Yugioh Spies: Dueling Drama Much Season 1
by Dakari-King Mykan
Summary: The girls have a new college professor, one my Mykan characters, and are learning about Ancient Egypt as well as how to play the game of duel monsters, but it isn't long before they soon discover that Mykan is in desperation to rescue the love of his life from her tyrannical father, and decide to accompany him and help him get her back. It's Time to Duel!
1. Professor Mykan Jaden

**_Author's notes: _**

**_Do keep in mind, there are no actual Yugioh characters here, with the exception of a few from time to time (This series is where the Spies play the game)_**

**_I am also not the Mykan you will see… he is just a character who has my name. He is not me nor like me at all. He is only an OC_**

_…_

_Long, long ago… when the pyramids were still young…_

_Ancient kings and sorcerers played a game of great power- combining magic with monster in a battle for power and glory so fiercely that world was soon caped in the war of the shadow games! Chaos and destruction spread all across the world, until a brave a mighty pharaoh locked the dark magic away, imprisoning it within the mystical millennium items…_

_Now, five-thousand years later, the once great chaos is about to be unleashed, and it will up to a chosen few to defend the world from the return of the dreaded shadow games!_

**CHAPTER ONE**

**_Mali-U, 1245 pm…_**

Alex, Clover, and Sam were into their second year of college, but kept on alert for whenever they would summoned to the newly reopened WOOHP for a new mission.

"You think that Jerry would close up WOOHP and mean it and then- snap- he turns around and opens up again." said Alex.

"Give him a break, Alex…" said Sam "Jerry's just not fit for retirement. It's his life, and besides that, neither are we. I love being a spy. Don't you, Clover?"

"Ah… as if. Sure we get to travel to far off places, fighting bad guys, saving the world, and Blaine and I get to be together when we're in Australia." She had one of her romantic chibi visions of her and her boyfriend kissing each other from opposite ends of the world.

Her fantasy was interrupted by the wicked sound of Mandy laughing. "Fantasizing again of you dying romance, Clover?" Mandy mocked.

Clover felt her head heating up with rage. "And just what would you know, Mandy? When was the last time you had a boyfriend at all?"

"For your information, in just a few minutes, I am planning to land the newest hunk on campus." She motioned down the hall where I was sitting…

I was a plain ordinary looking guy, roughly the girl's age, about nineteen years old. I had short dark hair, slightly spiky around the top. I wore a black T-shirt, a blue shiny jacket, with matching pants and solid boot-like shoes. Finally, a small red kerchief was tied round my neck. Beside me lay a silver briefcase, and reached up and softly felt around my neck with my fingers.

Alex, Sam, even Clover gazed at me with lovey-dovey eyes and almost drooling mouths. "Whoa!" cried Sam.

"Double whoa!" added Alex.

Clover felt almost sorry to be gazing at another boy and not picturing Blaine's face. Still, Mandy checked her reflection, and winked at them, and she approached me. "Well, hi there." she said in a flirtatious way. I looked up and said "I'm not interested, Mandy."

Mandy felt as if she had followed a fly. Apart from being upset that I wasn't interested. "Just how did you know my name?"

I stood up and gazed at her mysteriously. "I know many things. Like you're planning to go shoe-shopping this afternoon, only to find the pair of Black-leathered high heels you wanted are all sold out."

"WHAAAAAAAAT…?! Mandy shouted in a lightning flash of shock. First I knew her name, and I she was going shopping, but she didn't honestly believe that crack about the shoes she wanted being sold out. Even the spies thought I was strange at first sight already. I just snickered softly and picked up my case. "See you in class." And I walked up the hall and out of sight leaving Mandy and the spies confused and shocked.

They soon snapped out of their trances when they realized they had a new Ancient History class to go to. "Remind me again why we're taking this?" asked Alex.

"Come on, learning about ancient stuff will be so awesome." said Sam "Especially seeing as we're going to work on Ancient Egypt. I've always wanted to know more about it."

"Puh-lease!" groaned Clover "The only thing I'm interested in is whether our new prof will be smokin' hot."

Sam and Alex sighed in dismay.

Soon they arrived with their other fellow classmates. The teacher had not arrived yet. Mandy was already seated a chair down from where the spies were sitting, and then… I entered the room, and a few of the other girls students whistled at me or fell in love with the sight of me, even offered me to sit right beside them, but I took no notice of them.

Some of the male students who liked to bully others from time to time thought I was weird looking and were already crumpling up paper balls to throw at me.

Just then the dean came in and told everyone settle down and take their seats, and everyone did so… except me, I just stood where I was. The dean cleared his throat and sated "As you know, your normal history teacher has quit out of protest, though I am still unsure why…" he had flashbacks of himself and the staff at a party and playing a prank on the history teacher which lead him quitting out of anger. "But we have managed to find a replacement."

That's when he motioned to me, which made many of the student gawked in surprise. "Him?" sputtered Alex in disbelief.

"He's our… prof…?" added Sam.

Clover stuttered and stammered, "B…But… He…!"

Mandy's mouth hung agape, and I moved to my desk at the front of the room and placed my case down and said "Hello everyone and welcome to Ancient History. My name is Professor. Mykan Jaden. I specialize in Duel- I mean doing studies of Ancient Egypt. I'm pleased to be here."

Silence, and more silence followed, and suddenly the whole class erupted with everyone asking me questions, which I quickly answered.

"Say, how old are you, guy?"

"Me? Oh, I'm nineteen."

"Where do you come from?"

"I'm a worldwide traveler."

"Hey, you must be really smart."

"Academically I've achieved a bachelor's degree."

Some of the girls in class went gaga hearing those words. "Oh, wow!"

"He's a bachelor!"

The dean hushed everyone to sit down, reminding them that I was their instructor, not a pet. "You're all to treat him with respect and dignity. Is that clear?"

Everyone acknowledged, and he left the class in my care, and we all got straight into work learning about the beginnings of Ancient Egypt and the formation of their empires, the laws that were, and all that stuff.

Still, Mandy, and the spies couldn't help but feel something was very strange about me, not just that I was only nineteen yet teaching college, but how I seemed so alert and omniscient. For example, while my back was turned as I wrote notes on the board about our subjects, those boys in the back threw their paper balls at me, and I stepped out of the way perfectly and called out their names warning them not to anger me.

The boys were freaked out by how I knew their names and that they threw the balls at me in the first place. The spies whispered back and forth to one another. "Who is this guy?" asked Clover.

"And how does he know all this stuff so easily?" added Alex.

"Girls, I'm getting the feeling that maybe we need to do some spying." Sam suggested.

WHACK! I clapped my hands hard shocking them to attention. "Ladies… is there a problem?" I asked with narrowed eyes.

"No sir." The girls said shyly, and everyone snickered softly at them, but everyone got straight back to work.

I reached up and felt along my neck by my kerchief with my fingers again like I did before, and went on with my lectures about Ancient Egypt, describing its many wonders and happenings without having to even look in a textbook for referencing. Sam was impressed by my knowledge and the way I went on, I made it sound as if it was all really happening right before their eyes.

Before class ended, I had instructed that everyone was to write a paper on one of the subjects of Ancient Egypt to be handed in within two days. "That will be all." I said and the class left me all by myself in the now empty room, and I felt my fingers across my neck again, and I began to look a little sad. I then reached into my briefcase and pulled out a small picture frame…

It was a picture of a very beautiful girl- a princess. She had long dark green hair, and she was wearing a beautiful red gown, with a silver tiara on her head, and around her neck was an odd looking gold necklace with a weird looking eye thingy in the middle. I sighed heavenly but sadly as I clutched the photo to my heart. "I miss you so much." I whispered softly, and touched my neck yet again.

…

The spies met at the café for their work shift, and to brainstorm for their papers. "Ah! My head is aching enough!" groaned Alex "I couldn't keep up with all the stuff he was saying."

"Speak for yourself!" said Clover "I was supposed to go shopping this afternoon. All those cute and adorable shoes and accessories just screaming out my name..."

"CLOVER!" shouted Virgil, snapping her out of her trance. "Will you get your head out of the clouds and get back to work."

Clover smirked embarrassingly, but then saw at the end of the counter, Mandy angrily came to the counter and demanded service. The girls of course had no right to refuse, but they couldn't help but want to egg her on. "So, Mandy… how was your shopping spree?" Clover asked.

"Wait, don't tell us… they were all out of the shoes you wanted." added Alex. Mandy's lips curled into an angrier sneered and she imagined dunking the girls in a vat of hot coffee they made for her, "For your information, that's exactly what happened! Not a single pair was left!"

She picked up her coffee and left in an angry huff. "Touchy." Clover said with a smirk, and Alex giggled cheekily, but Sam felt strange. "Isn't that what Professor Jaden said, that the store would be out of shoes when Mandy went?"

Clover and Alex began to feel that that was strange, and they remembered what they had talked about and all agreed to try and spy on me and figure out how I knew so much, but when they got off shift, much to their dismay, I wasn't in the classroom. They went to ask the dean if he had seen me. "Professor Jaden left the grounds an hour ago, heading into town."

The girls were at a total standstill, and decided to retreat to their penthouse to call on Jerry for help. _"Hello, girls… How's the college life?"_

"Fine, but we need to ask a favor." said Sam "Do know anything about Professor Mykan Jaden?"

Jerry nearly flipped out and dropped his newspaper. _"Did you say Mykan Jaden? Oh, my! Who would have thought?"_

"You know him, Jer…?" asked Alex.

_"Know him, who doesn't know of him?"_

"Um, we do… or we wouldn't be asking." said Clover putting hints in her voice.

Jerry explained to them that as well as being an excellent teacher of Ancient Egypt, and having had taught at several colleges and universities in California already, I was best known as a world-class champion in the game of duel-monsters.

"Duel Monsters?" asked Clover "Isn't that, like… that weirdo card game where you place these monsters out to attack each other?"

Jerry bolted upright and felt insulted _"I assure you, Clover, Duel Monsters is most exciting game. One that requires vast and quick wits and great deal of strategizing."_ he held up a deck of cards that he himself had assembled over time ever since the game came out, indicating he was a big fan of the game, but then he quickly put his deck away and the girls got down to how they were very suspicious of me.

_"You're saying he predicted things yet to come and knew your names without even asking? Well, it could all be coincidence, but perhaps it would be best if you kept an eye on him. If anything unusual or unexplainable happens, call me again."_

The girls nodded and signed off, and now they felt more confused than ever. "A teacher who plays a card game?" asked Sam.

Alex nodded "There is something majorly weird about our new prof."


	2. Suspicions

**CHAPTER TWO**

Two days later, before class, I went to see the dean to talk to him about a method of teaching I used in many of previous occupations of teaching, but the dean seemed outraged. "I've never heard of such an outrage. The answer is no."

"But sir, my credentials- You didn't deny them when you hired me." I said.

"I know all this, but I just don't feel this is right. I have a hard believing that all this had anything to do with Ancient Egypt."

I could see he needed a little extra persuasion, and shut my eyes and hummed softly, and suddenly the dean began to feel strange, and didn't blink his eyes, and a moment later he sat back in his chair and felt as if he had seen a-thousand ghosts all at once. "Uh… you have my approval, Professor."

I nodded in thanks and turned to leave while fingering around my neck once again, and thinking very deeply to myself _"It's time we took things to the next level."_

In class, everyone handed me their papers, which I graded immediately without even really looking at them. I just graded them, and handed them right back. Some I even stopped to compliment them.

"Well done, Samantha."

"Alex, not bad, but kindly remember to add more than just your own opinion of research. Try consulting others."

Alex couldn't understand. It was as if I knew how she had written her entire paper without looking at it, and when I handed Clover hers back. "Ah! And F… but that is ridiculous!" she whined.

"Not as ridiculous as you downloading this entire thing off the internet." I said to her "Surely you should have noted the many spelling errors, and how some of the information is false; King Tut's original name was not Toothache, it was _Tutankhaten._

The students laughed at her, but Clover as astounded to find I was right. Not only did her paper have tons of spelling errors, but it had they very in accuracy I pointed about Tut…. at the very back of the paper where I didn't look. "How did he know that?" Clover growled in frustration.

I finished handing out the papers, and many of them were well done, but some were not, and the only one who did worse than Clover was Mandy. I gave her an absolute zero. I didn't even her paper but  
publicly announced right before her "Mandy… this is all stuff you made yourself. You didn't even bother to research. You just made wild guesses and then put together this… this…!" I couldn't find a word to describe what garbage she had made out of Ancient Egyptian history with all the fiction and inaccuracies she had written.

This only further aggravated Mandy, and further brought up everyone's curiosities of how I knew all this? It was if I were totally psychic!

As I walked back to my desk and hopped up onto it and looked at each and every student. "I have decided to update the curriculum."

Everyone exchanged concerned and confused thoughts and expressions and chattered softly, and I cleared my throat recapturing their attention. "I said I am updating the curriculum and have been full permission by the dean, so I don't want to hear any objections."

I hopped down from my desk and paced back and forth but never took my eyes off the students. "It has come to my attention already that many of you seem to know quite a bit about Ancient Egypt already…" I then cast a look at Mandy and Clover "…and some of you seem to know less than others."

The girls slumped down in their seats.

"So… I have decided to take this course to a new level. We will still learn more about Ancient Egypt as we know it, but in addition we will learn a part of it that is not known to many which I am fortunate enough to have acknowledged in my years."

I turned out the lights and with a projector I showed everyone a slide-show of pictures I had taken of Egyptian hieroglyphics and artifacts at the museums I had visited, actually unearthed from Egyptian archeological digs. They told the story of how, five-thousand years ago… ancient kings and sorcerers played a game of great power and skill to master monsters and magic for power and glory… all that and everything else that went with it eventually was all recreated in the modern day card game… Duel Monsters.

I turned the lights back on and Sam asked me "Professor, are you saying you're going to teach us through a card game."

"I most certainly am." I said. "Starting in our next class, we will divide our studies into two basic sections. The first half we'll stick to our normal Egyptian studies, and then for the remainder we will test your skills at duel monsters to help focus your minds and possible help you develop a better sense of interest."

Everyone didn't know what to think or say, some of them had been thinking about trying the game out, but many of the others didn't know the first thing about it or its basic rules at all, but before class was out I had presented everyone with fifty dollars each, and a copy of a latest print of cards and strategy guide "Your assignment is to get yourselves some cards and construct decks to help you in this course. The money is to be spent only on cards. If I find out it has been used for other means, I guarantee you will be sorry."

"Just my luck!" groaned Clover "Fifty big ones and I have to buy cards only with them for a tacky game."

"Cheer up, Clover. Maybe it won't be so bad." said Sam.

"Totally…" Alex said as she crammed through her book and was enamored by all the many cards and artwork on them, especially one particular card she couldn't take her eyes off of. "Wow! _Red Eyes Black Dragon...!"_ Her eyes sparkled as if she had seen a handsome prince, and imaged what it would be like if she were in control of such a big and powerful beast to smite all her enemies… like Mandy.

Class had ended, and before heading off to town to get cards, the spies decided to follow me and spy on me. They just stayed outside the door to the classroom watching me as I did my work, and constantly fingered along my neck, which they noticed I had been doing a lot ever since day one.

Still, I wasn't doing anything really out of the ordinary. Alex let out a tiny little sneeze, and the others hushed her. I heard the noise and looked up. The girls quickly ducked away and I didn't see them, but I was no fool I knew they were out there, and I also knew they were spying on me. _"Hmm… they're not like others."_ I thought _"Maybe they are the ones who can help me."_

After a while, I packed up my stuff and left the classroom. The girls were silently creeping up behind me and followed me as a left the building, and turned round a corner, but when the girls followed me round the corner, they couldn't see me anywhere. "He's gone." cried Alex.

"But… he was just here." said Clover.

Sam scanned around with her Powder-Com, but she couldn't find me anywhere either. "He's vanished like a ghost. But… it's impossible."

The girls were now more than convinced that something was up with me, and they reported to Jerry immediately…

_"I see… and you scanned the area with your compact?"_

"Yeah, and we came up with zilch." said Clover.

"We think Mykan's really up to something now Jerry." said Alex "So, can't we just catch him now?"

_"I'm afraid not, Alex. Whether suspicious or not, Professor Jaden still hasn't committed any crimes, and until he actually does he cannot be qualified as a criminal. You may continue to observe him if you wish, but don't let this grow into an obsession. Ta-Ta."_

And he logged off, leaving the girls feeling so frustrated that Clover felt like her head was going to pop off and fly to the moon. "Easy there, Clover." Sam said "Remember we still have some shopping to do."

"Yeah, dorky window shopping for cards like geeks." She said with disdain in her voice, but Alex was eager to go. She had a lot of ideas for some cards she wanted already, and she especially wanted a Red Eyes more than anything.

By the next class time, I was impressed that everyone had gotten their decks as instructed and gave me back any leftover cash they had from their purchases. Even Mandy didn't dare to blow her money just as I warned her not to… knowing that everyone knew how I was somehow able to know everything they did, nobody disobeyed my instructions.

Sam had gotten an ocean themed deck. Her deck was full of all kinds of water and aquatic cards, as they helped reflect her desire of sciences and studies in oceanography, Clover had finally begun showing some interest in the game as she had assembled a deck of Elemental Heroes. She thought some of them were very hunky, and found out about the many combinations they had… and also she pictured Blaine's face on some of them as _her hero_ rescuing her from danger.

Alex's deck wasn't really based on too many themes, as she had an assortment of different monster types, but mostly warriors, and yet, she was very disappointed. All the days before class she gone to practically every store that sold cards in town and of all the cards she managed to get… No Red Eyes Black Dragon! "Cheer up, Alex. I'm sure you'll find it." Sam said.

Alex smiled.

As classes continued over the weeks, as I promised… we did continue or work on regular Ancient Egyptian history for the first half of class, and then we switched over to studying the dark history of it through the game of Duel Monsters, learning how the game worked and mastering its rules, and just as I figured, all of the students were showing greater interest in the studies of both courses, and improving very well as we progressed. Even Mandy was showing some improvement on the Egyptian assignments and even handed in an improved paper done with real research… but she still acted very poorly, and even went around criticizing the choices others had made for their decks, claiming that hers was the best there was… this greatly disturbed me, but I didn't bother to penalize her. I had a sneaky feeling I knew what kind of duelist she was bound to become.

I told everyone that they were to study the rules of the game carefully and even take time to upgrade their decks if they chose, but with their own money. For at the end of the course I would be holding a duel monsters tournament to test their skills and wits… provided of course they stuck to their other assignments of the normal studies.

Still, as the classes came and went by, Alex, Sam, and Clover were no closer to finding out anything they wanted know about me. They checked around the class room when it was empty, but could find no hidden cameras or anything that could have lead me to knowing what everyone had been up to.

They tried to keep close to me and follow me around hoping for new leads, but each and every time they tried, I always managed to give them the slip and seemed to just vanish into thin air and they couldn't seem to track me or find out how I was doing this.

They even tried to call Jerry for extra help, but he refused insisting that this was not a serious job to get more WOOHP officials involved and that the girls were on their own, but they weren't giving up.


	3. Teacher VS Student

**_Author's Notes:_**

**_Time for the duels to begin, and I just thought I'd point out, I'll be using strategies from our world, but there may come times when I may have to use the anime rules to make the duels work out, so keep that in mind, and also when you see a cards name with an UNDERLINE that means that card is from the anime/manga only (It isn't real… don't bother looking for it)_**

**CHAPTER THREE**

In the final days of classes, the duels began. Just ordinary tabletop duels, the students could compete against anyone they chose, provided they switched so everyone had a chance to duel everyone at least once.

Many of them didn't too badly for rookies. Some did exceptionally well, like the spies. For only being new to the game they seemed to be at the top of the class, but they didn't exactly win all their duels and did lose a couple here and then. Alex felt she could have done better if only she had a Red Eyes, which she was still not able to find anywhere.

Still, what amazed and really got on everyone's nerves was the one single student who hadn't lost a single match so far, and enjoyed rubbing in everyone's faces… Mandy! Her deck was as powerful as she preached about it, due to the fact that she had three copies of the legendary Blue Eyes White Dragon, one of the more stronger monsters and very difficult to defeat.

Sam, Clover, and Alex came close to beating her, several times, but they lost to her as well. Mandy enjoyed mocking and criticizing everyone, which only made them more eager for a rematch, only to be defeated again.

Mandy's trademark laugh greatly annoyed everyone, but on the last day of the last class. Everyone felt Mandy had gone too far with her endless winning streak, which did disappoint me. "After everything I've taught you all, you can't see Mandy's one fatal weakness." I said.

"Ha!" Mandy scoffed "The only weakness I seem to have is being surrounded by losers who couldn't beat me if their lives depended on it."

Clover growled like a bear and Sam and Alex had to hold her back to keep her form thrashing. "I wouldn't be so cocky, Mandy." I said "You may be on a winning streak now, but the way you play will soon start to bring you down."

"Huh! If you're so sure of that, why don't you show it to me in a match, Professor?"

Everyone gasped as if she had said something really bad.

"Is that a challenge I hear?" I asked.

"You bet it is… unless you're too scared."

I closed my eyes a second and went deep into thought, and snickered. "Very well, Mandy... I accept your challenge, but I do have one request, however." I opened my briefcase and pulled out two odd looking devices, and passed one of them to Mandy. "And just what is this supposed to be?" she asked.

Instead of answering her and motioned that everyone head outside, for what they were about to witness would change the way they saw Duel Monsters forever.

Once outside in a clearing, I showed Mandy how to use the devices we were wearing. They were called duel-disks and were top of the line new technology that had only just been invented for the card game that I was fortunate enough to possess.

Mandy thought the disks were tacky looking, and still understand what the big deal was, but still, "You can all the fancy gizmos and gadgets you want. I'm still going to clean your clocks." she bragged, but I took no notice of her and just scribbled down some notes on a sheet of paper. "What do you think you're doing?" snapped Mandy.

"Hmm, me…? Nothing really, it's just that according to my calculations, Mandy. You'll be defeated after just four of your turns."

Made blinked once, but she laughed really hard and louder than ever feeling I was pulling her leg. We were about to begin, and all the students were excited. Many other people from around campus gathered around us too and others could see through the windows of classes and dorms.

The rules were simple. Each duelist started with 8000 life points and whoever hit zero first was out. _"DUEL…!"_ Mandy and I shouted, and drew our first six cards.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 8000 VS Mandy: 8000_**

"Since you challenged me, Mandy, I'll go first. So let's begin, and my first card is the mighty **_CLAW REACHER!"_**

**_(Atk: 1000)_**

Everyone watched to their amazement as the card I had just played seemed to materialize out of thin air, and the monster itself appeared and growled loudly. "Did you see that?" cried Clover.

"He just brought the monster on the card to life." added Alex.

Sam was amazed. "This is so cool!"

"That's what these duel-disks do…" I explained "They render each card and all their effects in holographic 3D. They can't physically harm you, but the shockwaves can become quite a thing when they hit you full force." I finished my turn by playing a **_DIAN KETO THE CURE MASTER _**spell card to boost my life points by 1000

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 9000 VS Mandy: 8000_**

Mandy was actually impressed. "As cool as this seems, you really expect to beat me, especially with wimpy monster like that? Let me show you how it's really done. I summon the **_KAISER SEA HORSE!"_**

**_(Atk: 1700)_**

She ordered her monster to attack, and my Claw Reached vanished in a pixelated, shattering, explosion, which blew small shockwaves at me.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 8300 VS Mandy: 8000_**

Everyone gasped at Mandy took such and early lead over me, and Mandy was just giddy with brags and boasting "How about that teach. Looks like you taught me more than you bargained for. Now I'll place one card facedown and end my turn."

"Now, now, now, Mandy…" I said acting all cool and calm as I drew my next card "You don't need to take that tone, the duel is not over yet. So, I'll lay this monster face-down in defense mode, and I'll place one card facedown as well. It's your move now."

Mandy scoffed as she drew her next card, and really liked what she had. "If you think that little facedown card of yours scares me, think again. I use **_MYSTICAL SPACE TYPHOON!"_**

With that card, Mandy destroyed my facedown trap hole card, which really could have come in handy for me.

"And if you think that was bad enough, check out the other spell I have, **_STOP DEFENSE!"_**

My facedown monster was forced into attack mode… a **_BATTLE FOOTBALLER_**. Its defense was 2100, but in attack mode it was only 1000.

"Aw… too bad, for you!" gloated Mandy. "Now, watch as I use my Kaiser Sea Horse's special ability. I'll sacrifice… and call on the **_BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON!"_**

**_(Atk: 3000)_**

Mandy's huge dragon appeared and roared fiercely, scaring some of the students. "Wait! How did she do that again?" Clover asked "I thought you had to sacrifice two monsters to summon it."

"Clover, don't you remember…" Sam pointed out. "The Kaiser Seahorse acts like a double tribute when summoning Light monsters that powerful. So Mandy only had to sacrifice it."

Alex felt very frustrated that Mandy seemed to be getting such a big lead over me, especially when she ordered her dragon to attack my Footballer, and really reducing my score.

**_(Atk: 3000) VS (Atk: 1000)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 6300 VS Mandy: 8000_**

Mandy laughed again ended her turn. "Ya know… I don't even know why I'm bothering with all this. I could've entertained myself easier with a game of solitaire."

I just ignored her and drew my next card. I placed in facedown defense position, and set one two other cards facedown without saying anything at all. "What's wrong, run out of quotes?" Mandy mocked and laughed. Then she drew her next card. "I play **_POT OF GREED_**, so now I can draw two more cards!"

With four cards in her hand, a Blue Eyes, and a face down in play… she really felt her victory was assured now. "Step back… and watch how it's done people. I summoned **_LORD OF DRAGONS!"_**

**_(Atk: 1200)_**

This was very bad, as all the other student who had faced Mandy knew that with that card in play, Mandy's Blue Eye's couldn't be specifically targeted by the effects spells, traps, or monster effects. "And if you think that's bad… watch this. I play **_FLUTE OF SUMMONING DRAGON! _**Now I get to call two more dragons to the field and if you thought one Blue Eyes was bad enough… let's see how you like facing three at once!"

**_(Atk: 3000) x2_**

Everyone gazed in horror at how dangerous Mandy looked. This was the signature move she often did to win all her duels easily. "Oh, this is going to hurt so much… to you." Mandy gloated, and ordered one of her dragons to attack my monster.

"My trap activates, **_A FIENT PLAN!"_** I shouted "This trap card makes it so you can't attack my facedown monsters at all. It affects you. Not the dragons themselves."

"How pathetic…" snorted Mandy "I activate my counter-trap, **_TRAP JAMMER, _**and it cancels out your stupid trap."

Sure enough, my trap failed, and Mandy's Blue Eyes destroyed my face down monster; a **_MYSTICAL ELF! _**With its defense only at 2000, it was vanquished.

"Check it out!" cried Alex "Mykan's totally defenseless!"

"What was he thinking challenging Mandy?" cried Clover, but Sam wasn't so sure. She knew I wasn't a world class champion for nothing, which meant I had to have some sort of plan.

"It's been fun, but now it's over!" snapped Mandy "Go my dragons… and wipe him out!"

Mandy two remaining dragons soared right at me and aimed their White Lightning attacks at me. "Hold on, Mandy!" Did you forget my other facedown card?"

"What?!" snapped Mandy don't tell me it's another trap. "No it isn't, it's a quick-play spell card called POISON OF THE OLD MAN, and with its help, I can increase my life points by 1200, just in time to take the hit from your dragons."

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 7500 VS Mandy: 8000_**

Her dragons' attacks hit me really hard. The light was blinding that most of the student turned away or covered their eyes.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 1500 VS Mandy: 8000_**

Mandy growled angrily. This was supposed to be her moment of triumph. "I'll show you!" she growled "Lord of Dragons… attack him directly!"

The dragon lord obeyed, and leapt right over and socked me hard.

**_(Atk: 1200) _**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 300 VS Mandy: 8000_**

This was it! This was really it. Mandy had more monsters on her side of the field, and were shielded in many ways, and she hadn't lost a single bit of her life points. While I had no monsters and only one card in my hand, and with just 300 life points remaining, things looked hopeless for me.

Clover's heart was aching with fear. "Mandy is totally going to cream him!"

Alex wiped her brow from all the stress she felt for me. "And here I was hoping Mandy was finally going to get her comeuppance."

Sam felt worried for me, but suddenly she noticed "…then, why is the professor smiling?"

The others gazed at me, and sure enough I had a big and proud smile on my face. "Hey, he's not smiling. I think he's laughing." said Alex.

"What? No way!" said Clover.

Mandy was growing sick and tired of my snickering. "What's so funny?" she snarled "…Have you finally lost it? Finally realized there's no way out for you?"

"No, Mandy... but I'm about fulfilling my promise promising to take you down after four of your turns." I said to her. "You won't!" she snapped at me.

"Your one mistake Mandy is that you only play using power, and only use it to fulfill your own foolish and selfish desires, but without strategy and better motivation." I drew my next card and then play both the cards in my hand... one face down, and one monster in defense mode. "Time is running out, Mandy. This is your final turn before I teach you what real dueling is all about."

"Keep dreaming!" snapped Mandy as she drew her card.

_"Come on, Mandy. Play the card. I already know what it is."_ I thought to myself, and sure enough Mandy did play her only card, which happened to be a **_HEAVY STORM, _**and it let her destroy all spells and traps on the field. So my facedown **_MIROR FORCE_** card was destroyed.

"I can't look!" cried Clover. "He's going to lose!"

"To bad!" said Mandy "Looks like you are about be taught, teacher!" She ordered all of her monsters to attack my last monster and wipe me out for good, but I grinned sinisterly "You've sealed your fate, Mandy!"

"Huh?" Mandy looked on ahead as my monster revealed itself as **_CYBER JAR! _**"Ah! Wait…! Stop!" screamed Mandy. "You're too late, Mandy. You've activated Cyber Jar's special ability."

Mandy's dragons were being protected only from card effects that specifically targeted one monster, knowing this, the only option was destroy all the monsters on her field at once, and that's just what Cyber Jar did. It swallowed up all three of her dragons and the dragon lord, and then exploded, leaving the field completely empty.

"Now, Mandy, we both must both pick up five cards from our decks and summon all monsters that have four stars or less in their level."

Mandy and I did just all that and to Mandy's horror, all the cards she got were monsters and they all were too powerful to summon. There was nothing she could do at all. "This so cannot be happening!" she whined. I on the other hand drew five monsters and I was able to summon each and every one of them…

**_"PALE BEAST...!" (Atk: 1500)_**

**_"MAN EATING TREASURE CHEST…!" (Atk: 1600)_**

**_"FIEND SWORD…! (Atk: 1400)_**

**_"OPTICLOPS…!" (Atk: 1800)_**

"…And…**_ KABAZAULS…!" (Atk: 1700)_**

My entire row of monsters gazed her down and together all their combined attack power totaled 8000 points exactly. "No! Wait! This can't be!" cried Mandy

"Sorry, Mandy, but that's what you get when you only duel with power." I didn't bother to draw my next card, and ordered my army of monsters to wipe Mandy out in a colossal one turn kill! All those shockwaves and bright lights sped past Mandy, and she screamed and fell off her feet.

**_FINAL-SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 300 VS Mandy: "0000"_**

The watchers were all shocked and speechless at first, but then they erupted into wild and happy cheers. "He did it!" cried Alex "He actually won!"

Clover slowly peeked out from behind Sam giggling nervously "I totally knew he would."

Same was impressed too. I had taken Mandy down after four of her turns as promised, and I openly admitted that the deck I was using was no actually my own deck, but just one of several decks I threw to together with random cards. This finally made everyone realize that I was THE Mykan Jaden, world class dueling champion. Mandy never really stood too much of a chance against me.

Poor Mandy lay ruffled and dirty from the aftereffects of the shockwaves, still in denial that I actually beat her. "Do you still doubt me, Mandy?" I said and then I handed her the sheet of notes I had scribbled before the match began, and Mandy couldn't have been at a more loss of words than ever…

It was all there. Every single card that we drew, every single move we were going to make. Mandy suspected I cheated, but then again, it was before the match even began, before even the first cards had been drawn.

The spies were speechless and took the sheet of paper from her, and sure enough it was the exact layout of the entire duel. "How in the world could he have known all this?" asked Sam.

Alex and Clover wanted to know this as much as she did and they decided, no more mistakes, they were going to track me down and get the dirt on me once and for all.


	4. Mykan's Story: Part 1

**CHAPTER FOUR  
(Part One)**

With my teaching job completed, I took back the duel-disk from Mandy, and bid my farewells to the students, thanking them for being cooperative and allowing me to be their prof. "I only hope I get a further opportunity in the near future. And now, I bid you adieu…" and I picked up my briefcase and left the grounds.

The spies nodded at one another and quietly slipped away from the crowd and out of, and changed into their spy-suits. "Let's go follow him!" said Sam and they took off into the skies, and lucky for them they caught sight of me and kept up high in the sky where I seemingly couldn't see them. So far, I hopped on a bus and headed deep into Beverly Hills town, and I stopped at a Pizzeria and came out twenty minutes later carrying two large pizza boxes.

Alex felt her stomach growling. "Ooh… I could sure go for a bit of that now." she groaned. "Focus, Alex!" snapped Sam.

"Hey! There he goes." cried Clover as they all watched me walk across the street to an apartment building. Sam flew in closer and looked through the glass and saw me get in the elevator, and watched the numbers until they stopped on floor eleven, the second highest point. She reported to the others, and they all flew up to the eleventh floor, entering through the windows, and emerging in the hallway. They could see me just up ahead as I walked into my apartment with the pizzas, and I left the door wide open. The girls quiet moved in closer, tiptoeing across the floor, but keeping well out of sight.

"Alex, Clover, Sam…" I suddenly called out to them making them jump. "It's okay girls. You can come in."

The spies felt confused, and felt if maybe I was luring them into a trap but then I showed up at the door and kindly said to them "I'm not a criminal or a bad guy. You can stop worrying about me, spies."

The girls exchanged looks of concern and confusion, and then walked right into my apartment to see that I had set my table for four with the hot pizza's ready to serve with all their favorite toppings which only further amazed them.

Clover even saw my to-do list on the refrigerator, and one of the items: _"Wait for the spies to come"_

"You know we're spies?" asked Sam.

"You knew we were coming?" asked Clover.

Alex swooned over the hot pizzas and sniffed them "Mmm… how did you know what pizza we liked, Professor."

"Please, Alex… just call me Mykan. My teaching job is over." I said, and as we sat down and ate I told them that I knew they were on to me from the very start, and the reason they weren't able to follow me was the same as the reason of how I seemed to know everything. I untied my kerchief, pulled it off and revealed an odd looking golden necklace with a weird eye marking on it.

Sam almost choked on her pizza when she realized. "That's… that's a…Millennium item!"

She remembered from part of the Duel Monsters study, of how in Ancient Egypt, when all the chaos and evil ruled the land, seven mystical items were created and infused with incredible powers to help contain and bind the shadows. Alex and Clover still refused to believe that stuff, but I assured them that my Millennium Necklace and its powers were very real.

One of its fascinating powers was that it allowed me to look into past and near future, which explained why I so omniscient, being able to see events before they happened. "I'll prove it to you…" I said. I closed my eyes, and the necklace began to glow. Soon, the girls felt they were no longer in my apartment, but were actually seeing things that happened over the past month since I took over the class. They were only illusions, but they were there, plain and simple just as everything had happened…

Including another reason why the girls were unable to find when, was because when I had turned round corners, when no one was looking, I used the necklace to make myself completely invisible, enveloped by its magic, so they couldn't detect me.

It was also how I predicted the outcome of my duel with Mandy, move for move…

…the spies were convinced, and Clover was just psyched out that I could do all this. "Can I borrow it? I'd like to play my lottery ticket again."

"No, Clover." I said "That would be dishonest, and besides, not just anyone can use these items. The items choose who gets to control them, and punishes those who are unworthy."

Clover felt a shiver run up her spine. "Punishes?!" and she didn't want to know how horrible it would be.

"Where, did you get it from?" asked Alex.

I hesitated for a moment, for I had never told any other person in the world… but I knew I could trust the girls having already knowing a lot about them. I reached into my briefcase, and pulled out the picture of the princess wearing the millennium necklace.

"Wow, she's beautiful." said Alex.

"Who is she?" asked Sam.

"Her name's Sabrina. Princess Sabrina Saffron." and then I felt and looked a little sad, and Clover could tell, having had that same feeling all the time whenever she got dumped, "I am sensing some major romantic heartbreak issues."

I nodded in response, and decided to share with the girls my life story, as back as I could remember, and I showed them all images using the magic of my necklace…

I was an orphan, I wasn't even sure if my real name was actually Mykan. I had no idea of who I really was, or where I came from, or even who my parents were, even the necklace couldn't show me the answers to what I sought; though I hadn't even had it then.

I was found floating in the ocean in a basket, with a name "Mykan" on a plaque on the basket, but I had no last name. I was founded by boaters who were out on vacation, and the brought me aboard and brought me to the main land where I was nursed back to health, but as I had no living relatives, I was quickly placed in an orphanage where I was raised and brought up.

As soon as I was old enough, I began to learn in the orphanage school, but the kids weren't very nice to me because I was new and even picked on me just because I didn't know who I was, when really most of them were just dropped off by the orphanage, abandoned by their parents, or some who's folks had died.

Many potential parents came, but none ever adopted me either. I felt depressed and lonely, and unappreciated, but I managed to occupy myself by studying hard which was how I began to develop my incredible degree, especially in the study of Ancient Egypt, which eventually lead me to learning how to play duel monsters. I played and practiced constantly, and when I was fourteen, I filled out an application to attend the famous duel academy, and asked the orphanage manager if I could go, as I felt I needed a new start. Somewhere fresh to go, and she agree to help me… and I passed all the entrance exams and was well on my way.

Duel Academy was a special boarding school on an island in the South Pacific, where students came from far and wide to really study about duel monsters and become pros at the game to compete in tournaments and championships all over the world, but also served as a regular school to help give the students normal study times.

It was also the place where the duel monsters card game was manufactured and card prototypes were made and ready to be sent out into the world. All this was owned by Sabrina's father, King Wilhelm Saffron, a real royal king and an archeologist with a passion for the dark ages of ancient Egypt which lead him to create the game.

He was a very kind and caring man and also head chancellor of the school, and he was always eager to welcome newcomers, but a shame I couldn't say the same for students. I had to start out in Slifer Red… or as they were nicknamed… the Slifer Slackers, and were regarded as inexperienced losers and often ridiculed by many, especially the top class, and rather snooty Obelisk Blue students who seemed to live in luxury and some acted just like Mandy. They enjoyed mocking lower class students like me… but the Ra Yellows were nicer, but some weren't.

Many tried to bully me, but I ignored them and just kept to my studies, and thanks to my experience in dueling back at home, I did really well on my tests and assignments, and I clobbered everyone who ever stood in my way, and I kept updating and experimenting with my deck to try new strategies, and eventually it was clear that I was a child prodigy for a newcomer. I was reading and passing my tests at a top senior level and dueling my way to the top.

I was promoted to Ra Yellow quickly in just my first year, and by the end of term, when I was fifteen, I had accumulated enough dueling points to earn me the tittle of big man on campus, and also entitled me to attend a very special match… against the King's daughter, who was also a student, but took private lessons within the main palace, but she often did like to venture out to get exercise, or just to interact with students and make friends.

I had seen her quite a few times during the year. I knew I was in love, and she often waved at me as I passed or she passed by. I felt like I was going to faint.

Now, here I was, actually about to face her. I had never seen her duel before, but I had heard stories that she was virtually unbeatable, and I was about to find out why.

I bowed to her as we greeted one another. "I'm very pleased you got be my opponent Mykan." she said to me.

"Yeah, me too your highness…" I said, trying not to be goofy, but Sabrina could see my cheeks turning red being near her and giggle.

And so our duel began, and I was just astounded. Her deck consisted of the powerful **_CYBER DRAGON…!_** A powerful monster with a devastating ability to be special summoned if I had monsters in play and Sabrina had none, my weak monsters were creamed, but I managed to keep my cool, and fought back, but Sabrina was full of surprises and mystery… she took two Cyber Dragons and fused them together to create the **_CYBER TWIN DRAGON, _**and it could attack twice in one turn. It was much harder for me to stand up to, but I still fought well and managed to crush it, but it seemed no matter how hard I tried to destroy the Cyber Dragons, they just coming back to get at me again, and again, and again…!

As the duel was coming to an end, I had managed to reduce Sabrina down to just 100 life points, and was hoping to finish her off on my next turn, but nothing could have prepared me for what happened then… Sabrina used a special, and very dangerous spell called **_POWER BOND!_** With it, she was able to fuse all three of her Cyber Dragons to create the **_CYBER END DRAGON, _**and since it was formed using Power Bond, its attack doubled from 4000 to 8000. At the end of Sabrina's turn, she would have had to take damage equal to her monster's original attack points, but her monster was so insanely strong, and was also able to inflict piercing damage-battle damage even if my monster was in defense mode-

…I lost! I couldn't believe it, but I was ever so amazed.

The Princess, and her father… the whole academy was very impressed with me. No one had ever come that close to ever beating her in all the years she started dueling, and… Sabrina personally requested do duel me again sometime. It almost sounded as if she desperately wanted it.

The term was over, but I decided to stay and take summer courses, seeing as I didn't really have much to look forward to going back to the orphanage. Not many students preferred to stay.

As time went by, I did get to duel Sabrina again, and I lost again, and again, but it wasn't so bad. Each and every time that I tried, I began to do better and better, and one time I actually got her in a stalemate, we both lost. Still, as time passed, we began to enjoy meeting up with one another. Sabrina even invited me to the palace one afternoon for tea, and her father was delighted to have me over. It was like our first date, and began to learn more about Sabrina… and for one thing, she asked me to stop calling her princess, but just call her by name.

I learned that her mother died of a disease when she was little, and the only keepsake she left behind was the millennium necklace, which Sabrina had inherited, and she was able to use a little of its power, but she didn't use it to cheat in duels, that wasn't fair or honest. She preferred to duel and learn the natural way.

Her mother's death was motivation to one Sabrina's dreams. Despite that she was royalty, she wanted to be a doctor and help people, and her father thought it was a great idea and showed great support and encouragement. He even made arrangements for her to take small and slow studies of just basics to help her get on her way, but she wouldn't get to study the real stuff until she was older.

I found myself falling more and more in love with Sabrina than ever. She was so sweet, and caring, she was smart too, and even asked if I would come visit her again sometime… maybe join them for dinner, and her father approved of this too and insisted I come.

As the summer continued, Sabrina and I grew closer, and then, the next term, I became an Obelisk Blue, and still held up my reputation of big man on campus. Some old bullies even knew better to cross my path and thought it foolish to duel me. There were times in which I was called away for a while to attend a few championship tournaments worldwide, Sabrina and I wrote to each other every day, and when I came back, she was always there to greet me first and hugged me warmly.

Then at the graduation match, when I was sixteen, once again, I stood before Sabrina ready to take her on again… and I did it! I beat her! Sabrina couldn't have been more proud of me, neither could her father. It was time for me to consider this as my total graduation, and that I no longer had to stay at the school anymore.

This really worried me. Where would I go? What would I do?

But Sabrina's father had already what success I was, and how smart and knowledgeable I was. Why I was practically as sharp as a world champion duelist already, and already possessed the smarts of a college professor. He was prepared to do something possibly no one would ever consider in their lives… but he offered me a job as a teacher, and I accepted.

Then, one night when Sabrina had invited me to a gala she and her father were hosting to celebrate. Many of the teachers offered me their congratulations, still finding it hard to believe I was only sixteen, and yet called, Professor. I had even legally adopted my new last name… Mykan Jaden. So I could have a regular name.

…But when Sabrina and I met out on the terrace to have a moment or two alone with one another, and we star gazed a bit, our eyes met, and we couldn't fight it and shared our first kiss, and we officially admitted our feelings for one another. That was the happiest moment of my life…!

**_To Be Continued…!_**


	5. Mykan's Story: Part 2

**CHAPTER FIVE  
(Part Two)**

Sabrina and I had become totally inseparable. We began to see each other constantly… we went on picnics, on her father's private yacht, I even got to take escort her on her shopping sprees, and sometimes I helped her with her medical studies. We grew closer and closer all the time.

Sabrina had become my very inspiration to help with my new teacher and to help demonstrate proper student conduct.

Finally, one day, while out on date with her, sitting on the hills and overlooking the sea, and I almost didn't have the courage to say but… I proposed to her, and I was shocked when she told me that she accepted.

Her father was very happy too, and he even expected it would happen and gave us all his blessings. Even though Sabrina was a princess, he knew I was making her happy and would continue to always do, and that made him happy too. Plus, he admired my hard work, and my honor and care for the game of duel monsters, and even ideas for new cards to be made.

So it was settled… Sabrina and I would wait until we were both at least eighteen. That would be old enough, especially seeing as how her father was called to lead an archeological dig that was being sponsored in Egypt and would be away for at least a year. This saddened me and Sabrina, but we understood, and promised to keep in contact… after all, we were all going to be family pretty soon.

Things continued normally. I did my teaching, Sabrina kept to her studies, and we talked to her father by video phone every other night or so.

…But then… all of sudden, the king stopped calling us. We had lost contact with the entire expedition. Sabrina was very worried if something dreadful had happened. She tried to use her millennium necklace, but it wouldn't go deep enough into the future to show her anything.

I was worried to, but I had to be brave for my fiancée, and there wasn't really any news about any problems so that was a sign that things would be okay.

Then, about a year later, I was eighteen, and Sabrina was seventeen. We almost old enough to be married… and Sabrina wanted to give me a gift. It was a royal family tradition for the member of the wedding couple to give their most prized possession to their future-spouse, to prove that nothing is more important, and Sabrina gave me her millennium necklace.

I didn't know what to say! This was beyond any word that I knew. I tried to insist that I couldn't take it, but Sabrina wouldn't hear of it. She also stated the reason she was giving it up was not to rely so heavily on it, and learn to be braver and stronger for her just as I had always inspired her to do. She didn't even care that I had nothing to really give her… as she already was my most precious treasure. I promised her I would protect the necklace with my life.

Then one day, her father finally came home, but he wasn't the same man he used to be. An eye-patch covered his left eye, leading us to believe he had some sort of accident, but also seemed stingy, and grouchy, and wouldn't even share stories of his travels and findings, and he acted very distant towards me, and was rather insulting. He even stopped calling me by name and called me "Kid" or "Boy"

When Sabrina and I reminded him of our engagement, he called it off, saying that he had changed his mind. Sabrina was his daughter and she would do as he said, and he also put his foot down about her medical studies too. He was no longer the saint he was once, and had turned into some tyrannical dictator, and he wouldn't say why.

One night, Sabrina and I had decided we had taken far enough his abuse, and decided to leave the island and elope to be happy, and maybe find a way to get her father some help, but her father became aware of this, and intercepted us as we were leaving. He and his army of suits stopped us, and I managed to fight them off, and then… I challenged Wilhelm to a duel for his daughter. Though he hadn't dueled in a very long time, he accepted, knowing that I would lose.

So our duel began… he used a wide array of **_TOON WORLD_** monsters that had very slick abilities, but that wasn't astounded me. Wilhelm was able to see what cards I was drawing, and read my every move before I even made one and always kept one step ahead of me. He even could tell every word I was saying… in my mind, and then I saw why…

…he lifted up his eye patch to reveal a Millennium Item; The Millennium Eye, and with it, which he was using to read my every thought. I could hide nothing from him, and I didn't stand a chance and lost the duel.

The next thing I knew, he had tied me onto a small mast on a makeshift and cast me out into sea a storm brewed. Sabrina rushed out to try and save me but she held back by her father's guards. "No!" she screamed.

"SABRINA…!"

For days I drifted with no food, and rather resorted to drinking water as it rained on me. I managed to untie myself, but I had no way of knowing where I was in the vast ocean. Finally when all hope had seemed lost, I saw land… the shores of California, and I still had my wallet with some cash and had my much needed fill of food.

However, even though I knew where I was and where the island was, I had no way of getting back. I tried to get on a ship, board a plane, but for some reason, no one would ever let me… it was as if they were hypnotized or bribed into not letting me get back to Sabrina. I tried to call her, or send emails… nothing… and I had a sneaky suspicion her father was behind all this!

It began to look hopeless for me, until I reached into my pocket to find my deck of cards, and the Millennium Necklace. I had almost completely forgotten that I had it. I picked it up, and it began to glow and I began to see images of me and Sabrina in the past, meaning I was somehow able to use its power too, just like Sabrina.

I knew I had to stay strong, I knew I had to keep on trying. Nothing would stop me from be reunited with my lost love.

…

The images faded…

The girls felt awful for me, and really bad at their own selves for horribly misjudging me.

I went on explaining that I still had my credentials as a teacher, and managed to get a few jobs which paid very well, and proceeded to duel in several tournaments for the prize money. Some of which I donated to charity, and the rest I kept to help build myself a home in Beverly Hills. I always had the Millennium Necklace to help keep me motivated, as well to protect me from danger.

As I continued to use and master its hidden powers, I never used it in tournament duels or things like that. That wouldn't be fair and wasn't how I got the top ranking title I had. I only ever used it to teach others lessons, and help me out when I needed it, and I never stopped trying to find ways to get back to the island or contact Sabrina just to know if she was okay… and maybe I could try and rescue her… only to be blocked out each time.

As usual, the Millennium Necklace couldn't let me look far enough into the future to seek any answers. So, I knew what I would have to do… I'd rack up enough money to buy myself a helicopter and try to travel to the island myself, but I was no fool. I knew that the king would probably be expecting me to come back for some time, and be ready for any intrusion. I wouldn't dare go alone.

I decided to find help…

I sought out individuals of cunning, swiftness, and all that stuff, but also… ones that would make excellent duelists, because if I went back, I could expect a lot of trouble involving dueling.

"…And I think I've already found the perfect ones."

"You mean us?" asked Sam.

I nodded, and the girls immediately realized they were the obvious choices, being spies, not to mention their already adept dueling skills, even for newbies. "Please girls. It's been almost a year, and after all this time I think I'm finally ready to take on this task, but I dare not go at it alone. Will you help me?"

The girls thought it over, and feeling it was cool the way I humiliated Mandy, and they did owe me a bit of an apology for spying on me so much, and for being such a good teacher and opening their eyes better to duel monsters.

"We will." said Sam.

"I'm so in this." added Clover.

Alex gave me the peace sign "Count me in."

I smiled at them, and felt my heart filling with warmth for the first time in a long time. Still, they had to check in with Jerry to tell him what they were doing. Jerry was honored to finally meet me in person, or at least talk to me. _"But I'm afraid that since you are accepting this under ordinary circumstances, WOOHP cannot help you, unless the situation calls for it."_

"We know, Jer… just thought we'd let you know." said Sam.

"And Jerry…" I said "You can trust me too."

_"I have a feeling I can, good sir."_ Then he logged off and the girls and I had some planning to do. I had plenty of cash and would be able to buy the helicopter, and I drew up a basic picture of the island from as best as I could remember it, keeping in mind I had been away for a full year.

"The palace is somewhere here in the center."

It was decided we wouldn't land too close, or even anywhere on the island, that would arouse suspicion and we'd surely be seen. Luckily I knew there were large flat rock formations away from the island, perfect and ideal to land a helicopter on. We would land there, and then use the emergency life raft to float over to the island to help avoid detection… I hoped, keeping in mind that it was possibly that King Wilhelm had the Millennium Eye and was expecting me to return, or he wouldn't have gone to such incredible lengths to keep me away from or contacting the island for so long.

There was only one thing left to do now…

"If we're going to run into any trouble that involves dueling, I want you girls to be ready for anything." I said to them, and I placed another briefcase on the table and opened it to reveal I had many spare decks and card which I wanted them to look through and consider upgrading their decks with. The girls were only too psyched to see so many wild and rare cards, but as much as I hated to disappoint Alex… "No, Alex… I don't have a Red Eyes Black Dragon. Sorry."

"You've got to be kidding me?!" growled Alex as she rummaged through each and every card only to be disappointed again. "What's a girl gotta do to nab a simple card!" she grumbled.

"Look at this way, if you get anymore hot tempered, you could _be_ the Red Eyes." Clover teased. Alex didn't find that at all funny.

Over the next two days, with our preparations complete. I bought the chopper, and the girls met up with me at the airfield on late afternoon, and were raring to go, and we were on our way. "I'm coming, Sabrina. I'm coming!" I said.


	6. The journey begins

**CHAPTER SIX**

The journey seemed endless only because we didn't really have anything to do but wait. On the way, the girls noticed I seem a little quiet… almost strange, despite concentrating on flying. "You okay, Mykan? You seem a little bummed out." said Alex.

"Is it about, Sabrina?" asked Sam.

"Yeah…" I answered softly "This is actually a bit strange for me to admit but, I'm almost not exactly so sure of what to expect if I see her. It's been a year since I last saw her, and she was left in the hands of her father. Will she even remember me? Does she still love me?"

That was possibility the girl shad considered to, but Clover to me to just buck up and not let it get me down. "If there is one thing I know about true love, it can never be broken..." she went into an overdramatic fantasy with the scenery changing every few seconds "No matter how far they may split up… or how long they go without seeing one another… the romance between a guy and a girl will never disappear and only makes it that much sweeter when they are reunited at last."

The rest of us felt as if she really missed Blaine and really and was desperate to getting to see him again, but she did have a point, I wouldn't know for sure unless I actually saw her again, but deep in my heart I had a feeling that Sabrina hadn't given up on me and our love for each other.

A few hours later… "Look, down there!" cried Sam. It was the rock formations I had mentioned about. "Here we go…!" I said as I took us down to the ground below. We then used our binoculars and gazed across the water and we could see the island in the distance. It was a very solemn moment for me. "A part of me never thought I'd ever see it again." I murmured.

We decided to wait until it got dark and then approach the island by the life rafts just as we agreed. "Great! More waiting." Clover groaned.

"It's always best to wait until things are in your favor, Clover." I said "We should be able to move around a lot easier to avoid being seen."

I really hoped we could pull it off and the King knew nothing about this…

…When actually, he was sitting in his office in the palace, doing paperwork, when there was a knock at his door. "Enter!" he growled gruffly, and one of his chief servants came in. "Begging your majesties pardon, but we have sighted a helicopter. It has just set down on the rocks on the far reefs from the island."

The king angrily pounded his desk "You didn't honestly think I wasn't aware of this, were you?"

The servant stood puzzled and nervous. The king did not like being told of things he was already aware of, or questioned of his intellect. He was aware of my arrival the entire time. _"So, you've come back, Mykan Jaden. I always figured you would." _he thought to himself. _"But mark my words… you are going to wish you had stayed away!"_

"Send them in!" he ordered his servant.

The servant almost turned pink. "But… sire…. You don't mean…?"

"Send them in, I said!" growled the king.

The servant nervously ran off, and when he came back he had brought six sinister looking people whom he had hired for just such emergencies for over a year now. "You all know what I hired you for. I don't really expect you to succeed, but keep that kid and whoever's with him from reaching here until I'm ready."

The six people bowed to him, and they headed off, but the servant was confused, and knowing it would get him in trouble, he just had to ask. "Sire… if Mykan presents such a threat to you, why not simply arrest him and bring him before you, and then you could punish him to your heart's desire."

The king looked at him furiously, and he threatened to punish him if he ever questioned his methods again. "If there's one thing I've learned, it's never to underestimate what you're up against. I want to see just what the kid is made up and whatever it is he's got. It'll make that much easier to crush him myself."

He also thought sinisterly to himself _"Especially if I'm right… and if I am, then he has something I want."_

After it began to get dark and the stars came out… Poor Sabrina was standing out on her terrace outside her bedroom, completely unaware of the events that were happening on the island. So much had happened in the past year… all of it bad, to her.

She was almost nineteen, and by now she and I would have been happily married for a year, if it weren't for her father. It still confused and upset her by what he had become and what he had done to her and to me; Casting me out to sea, refusing to let us marry and going to incredible lengths to keep us apart, disallowing her to continue her medical studies, and becoming mean and stingy, and very bad to everyone around him… especially to her…

She had been caught trying to send me letters, or leave the island herself many times, only to get caught every time by her angry father, and she couldn't even try to come up with any excuses, for the millennium eye allowed her father to read her mind and see the truth. She got punished severely each and every time; restricted to remain in her room with guards outside.

Sabrina was growing and more irritable with her father's behavior and wished there was something she could do, but each and every time she tried to talk to him about, he got madder than ever, and assured her, furiously that he was alright, and that maybe she was the problem!

To make things worse, her father decided that as a princess she was to marry someone of great wealth, or royal prestige and heritage, and had arranged suitors to come and offer themselves to her. Even without her millennium necklace, Sabrina could tell these men were not right for her, and even still, as she had stated many times before, her heart belonged to me and only me… and she firmly, but gently rejected each and every suitor, which only great angered her father even more, and he threatened to force her into a relationship with any of the suitors he saw the fittest if she continued to act all stubborn and broody, to which she would reply…"I will never marry another, and even if I must… I will not love that one the way I love Mykan!" and she would storm off to her room.

Sabrina felt ever so unhappy. Night after night, she would come out on the terrace like she was now, and look up at the stars, and when the moon was out, she sometimes could see my face. "Oh, Mykan…" she sighed sadly and softly "I hope you haven't forgotten about me, because I haven't forgotten… about you!" She shut her eyes tight trying not to let her tears escape and softly creased her neck with her fingers where her millennium necklace once hung round. "I just wish I knew you were okay."

…

The girls and I consumed what food we brought with us, and now that the sun had gone down, and the ocean seemed calm it was time for us to make our move. We got out the self-inflating life rafts from the helicopter, and before we headed out, I had one final thing to give to the girls and gave them each a duel disk. I had more than just the two that I showed when I faced Mandy, and I actually had four. "If we're going to be dueling, you're all going to need them."

The disks were all the same color and same style. "Um… think I could get this in red?" Clover asked "And maybe a few pink hearts here and there?"

I sighed softly in how typical Clover was reacting.

Then we set off, two in each raft and paddled our way across to the island. It was quieter than using motors and helped to avoid immediate detection as we crept up on the far side of the  
island away from the academy grounds, and disembarked leaving the rafts tied to the rocks.

I looked on ahead and took in the scenery of the island. It felt so comforting and almost frightening to be home after all this time, especially being on the dark side of the island, away from all the generated lights. "Wow! Look how beautiful the stars are here!" cried Alex, she almost felt as if they only thing she was missing was a hot date to walk with under the gleaming lights.

Even Sam found them irresistible to look at, but we all kept in mind that we came here for a reason. "Which to the palace?" Sam asked. "That's it way over there." I answered pointed a long way across the field and through a deep dark forest. "You mean, we have to walk all the way there, through all of that?!" complained Clover.

"Gee… what happened to love conquers all?" Sam said sarcastically.

Clover giggled nervously.

I tried to use the millennium necklace to scout the near immediate future to try and find whatever dangers we were likely to come across, but I could see nothing. Something was blocking me out form doing that, and I had a feeling it was the king using his millennium eye to counteract me. "So… you know I'm here!" I said softly as I gazed at the palace over the distance. I clenched my fists with determination "I may not know what's happened to you, what caused you to change from the kindhearted man you were into this despicable creature you are now, but rest assured that nothing; no trick or trap you may have set up will stop me from getting Sabrina back!"

It turned to face the girls, and they nodded at me. It was time for us to go forth. We trekked across the meadow region, as we got closer and closer to the forest up ahead. I told the girls to watch out, for we always had security systems and electronic eyes to ward off intruders.

We could see some of them sticking up from the ground, and the spies, having their powder-coms with them, managed to deflect any lasers using the mirrors, and Sam hacked into the systems and disabled them just long enough for us to get past. Then suddenly as the forest entrance drew nearer, we could hear the tall grass rustling as if someone was moving fast along. "Um, anyone get the feeling we're being watched?" whimpered Alex.

We heard another whoosh go by, and another, and finally a tall young man wearing a dark suit appeared before us blocking the way to the forest. "I am Ronald, guardian of the meadow region. That's as far as you go!" he said as he stepped out into the moonlight revealing that he was very handsome with short blonde hair. The girls went positively gaga at the sight of him. "Whoa!" cried Sam.

"Double whoa!" drooled Alex.

"If love is a crime, lock me up!" cried Clover and the next thing… she was actually licking and feeling along his muscles and smothering him. Ronald felt really freaked out and wretched away from her! "Eww…! What are you doing?! Why are slobbering on me? That's weird!"

Clover huffed and put her hands to her hips. "What is your problem? You'd think you'd never had girl show affection before?!"

Ronald looked at her sharply. "Look! I'm a duelist, not a lover, okay? If you want to duel, I'm ready… but please, none of that smooching stuff! I can't stand it. It makes me want to puke!"

Clover didn't know what made her angrier; the fact that he didn't find her attractive, or he would insult the joys of romance and everything she stood for with his whining. "Wait! What do you mean _duel?" _she asked

Ronald explained that he and his team were guards; gatekeepers who were specifically hired by King Wilhelm Saffron to confront any uninvited intruders that came onto the island unannounced. If we could defeat him, we'd be allowed to pass in peace, if not, we'd be arrested and taken in.

Alex thought that method bizarre. "Why not just make it easier and take us in anyway… even though you won't anyway?"

"Look! I don't make the rules, the king does. It's his style and that's all there is…" said Ronald "…Now are we going to duel or what?"

"Oh, it is so on!" Clover said, volunteering to go first. "No one insults romance and things I like and gets away with it. Get your game on!" she stopped and realized, "Get your game on… hey, that's pretty catchy."

The rest of us sat on the sidelines rooting for her all the way as their duel disks were prepared, six cards drawn, and life points set. _"DUEL…!"_


	7. Fight for Girl's Right!

**_Author's notes:_**

**_I forgot to mention one thing…_**

**_As this fic was made in 2006, and is the first season I want the time zones and cards made from both series and real world to be held in respect. There fore expect THESE in the following duels..._**

**_- No Cards from 5Ds and Zexal allowed (They didn't exist then)  
-Only vintage cards form Yugioh (Eps 1-54)  
_****_-Only GX cards from episode 1-52  
-Only cards in our world released within the respective years._**

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

The duel was on…

**_SCORE:_**

**_Clover: 8000 VS Ronald: 8000_**

"Good luck, Clover." I said to her "…And remember what we're fighting for."

Clover winked at me, but when actually she was more nervous than ever. If she lost this we'd be arrested. There wouldn't be room for any mistakes like back at school. "Let's do this…" said as she held up her cards. "I play **_ELEMENTAL HERO BURSTINATRIX _**in defense-mode!"

**_(Def: 800)_**

"And now I'll throw down a facedown and call it a turn."

Ronald held his cards up "That's it? Fine! Here I come, and I summon **_BATTLE OX!"_**

**_(Atk: 1700)_**

Clover gasped "Uh… but I…?" and before she knew it, her Burstinatrix was attacked and destroyed, but at least it was in defense-mode. "Now I'll put two cards face down. Let's see you keep up with that, girly!"

Clover's head snapped up right, and Sam and Alex gasped. "Oh, no he didn't…!" cried Alex. Even I knew how this was going to wind, and sure enough, Clover's head was throbbing. "You… did not just say that." she growled "If this is how you treat girls…. I bet you were a real loser in high school."

"DON'T EVER MENTION HIGH SCHOOL TO ME AGAIN!" Ronald suddenly shouted at her making her jump in fear. "It was horrible the way my good looks attracted every pretty girl like a washer to a magnet. I couldn't stand all the attention."

Sam couldn't help but feel really bad for Ronald; having never known that someone could be that freaked out by girls this much.

"It's my draw…!" Clover said as she drew her next card "And I summon **_ELEMENTAL HERO SPARKMAN!"_**

**_(Atk: 1600)_**

"Hah!" remarked Ronald "You think that little wimp can beast my Battle Ox?"

"Maybe not like this is can't…" Clover said "…But let's see what happens when I equip it with this spell card, **_SPARK BLASTER! _**And thanks to its sweet power, I can choose one of your monsters and change its battle position."

"Not if I activate my face down… **_MYSTICAL SPACE TYPHOON…!"_**

"Oh, no you don't!" snapped clover and revealed her trap card, **_MAGIC JAMMER! _**"All I have to do is ditch one card form my hand, and your spell goes bye-bye along with its effect, and my Spark Blaster turns your monster into defense mode!"

**_(Def: 1000)_**

Ronald growled angrily, and Clover teased "Not bad for a girl, eh? Sparkman… show him some real power! Attack…!"

"Think again!" snapped Ronald "That space typhoon card was just a ruse to get you to reveal your card to me, now I can I active my trap, go **_NEGATE ATTACK!"_** Clover's attack was negated and her battle phase ended. "I don't believe this!" she growled.

Sam, Alex, and I felt that Clover was really not off to a good start. "Mykan, can't you use your necklace and see if Clover will win?" Alex asked, but I reminded her that King Wilhelm was blocking me form looking ahead into the future with his own powers, and even if he weren't I would had done it anyway. "Remember, Alex, I don't use my power if I don't have to… and besides we have to have faith in Clover and that she can turn this around."

Sam agreed with me on that, "But Clover's not looking so good right now."

Clover placed one card facedown and ended her turn. Ronald drew his next card. "Now then, I place one card facedown, and summon the mighty **_HITOTSU MI GIANT…!"_**

**_(Atk: 1200)_**

Clover felt disgusted by the sight of the one-eyed monster, but that was the least of her problems when Ronald turned his Battle Ox back into attack mode, and ordered it to destroy Sparkman!

**_(Atk: 1700) VS (Atk: 1600)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Clover: 7900 VS Ronald: 8000_**

"I got news for you…" said Clover "…You just let me play **_HERO SIGNAL! _**Now, thanks to it, I get to summon one Elemental Hero monster straight from my deck and I chose… **_CLAYMAN…!"_**

**_(Def: 2000)_**

"Ah! You lucked out! This time…!" said Ronald, and he ended his turn.

Clover sighed in relief and drew her next card, but she couldn't help but wonder why summoned such a weak monster, and figured as much he was planning a trap for her just like before, or was he?

I noticed that she was pondering over her thoughts. _"Steady now, Clover. Just consider all your options and make the best move that you can."_ I said in my thoughts.

"Here goes something…!" said Clover "I set one monster in defense-mode, and that'll do it for me."

"What? Running out of options already?" teased Ronald "If I were you I'd be more about concerned about running for my life when I get through with you." he drew his next card "Ah… this will do nice! I sacrifice my two monsters, and I summon out this big beast-warrior, **_GARNECIA ELEPHANTIS!_**

**_(Atk: 2400)_**

"And if you think I'm finished there, wait until you see what else I have… the equip-spell, **_FAIRY METEOR CRUSH!"_**

"Oh, no… not that card!" cried Sam.

Alex hadn't seen that card yet, evens after all her studies, and when she asked what it did, she was shocked to hear now that Elephantis had it, if it attacked a defending monster Clover would receive piercing damage!

"No joke…" said Ronald, and while it was tempting for him to attack Clayman, he wouldn't take the chance that Clover was hiding anything. "This is for your slobbering on me and mentioning high school. Go Elephantis, and attack that facedown monster!"

Clover's monster turned out to be a **_WROUGHTWILER,_** and had a defense of 1200…

**_(Atk: 2400) VS (Def: 1200)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Clover: 6700 VS Ronald: 8000_**

Clover felt the shockwaves blast past her and messing up her hair. "Oh, you are so going to pay for that!" She growled "When you destroyed Wroughtwiler, you activated his ability, so now I can go into my graveyard and add one Elemental Hero and a Polymerization card into my hand."

So she got back her Sparkman, and the Polymerization she had discarded earlier. Ronald didn't see what difference it made. "Oh, you'll see." Clover said, and when Ronald ended his turn, she drew her next card. "Sweet…! First off, I'll switch Clayman into attack mode."

**_(Atk: 800)_**

"Attack mode?!" snapped Sam "What is she thinking?"

"Clayman's way to weak for battle." added Alex.

"Hold up, girls." I said "I think Clover's on to something."

Clover held her card up to her face, and her eye shimmered behind it. "Now I activate **_POLYMERIZATION,_** fusing Sparkman with Avian and Bubbleman in my hand, to create the **_ELEMENTAL HERO TEMPEST!"_**

**_(Atk: 2800)_**

Hew new hero shined like the stars. Sam and Alex were astonished, and Ronald couldn't believe she had summoned such a strong monster. "Not bad for a girl, huh…?" Clover mocked "Let's show him, Tempest. Blow away that overgrown pachyderm!"

**_(Atk: 2800) VS (Atk: 2400)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Clover: 6700 VS Ronald: 7600_**

"I don't believe this!" snarled Ronald.

"Oh, you better, because now it's Clayman's turn. Attack him directly!"

**_ (Atk: 800)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Clover: 6700 VS Ronald: 6800_**

"Looks like the score's even now." Clover gloated. "Way to go!" cried Sam.

"You go girl." added Alex.

"Well done!" I hollered, but Ronald was not impressed as he got back on his feet. "So, what…? So you knocked out one of my best monsters, do I look like I'm beat to you?"

He drew his next card. "I play **_GRACEFUL CHARITY,_** and with it I get to draw three cards, and then discard any two from my hand."

"Tell me something I don't know." Muttered Clover as Ronald drew and discarded. Then he grinned wickedly at what he had gotten. "Now, I'll show you what happens when I get really sneaky. First, I'll summon **_NIN-KEN DOG!"_**

**_(Atk: 1800)_**

I play **_MONSTER REBORN_**, and I'll use it to revive this Beast type monster… **_BIG KOALA…!"_**

**_(Atk: 2700)_**

"What?!" snapped Clover "Where… where did that monster come from?"

"Um, it came from my graveyard. Don't you know anything, typical girl?"

Clover went red with anger the more she heard Ronald discriminate against girls like that, but she suddenly realized that Ronald obviously discarded the Koala with Graceful Charity and revived it back, summoning it easily. "Uh, but reality check… that overgrown bear of yours is too weak to beat my Tempest."

"Wrong again…" sneered Ronald "Thanks to my Graceful Charity, I was also able to get this little baby too, the Equip Spell, **_INVIGORATION, _**and it gives my Koala 400 extra attack points, but it also lowers his defense by 200."

**_(Atk: 27000) Becomes (Atk: 3100)_**

Clover yelped in shock. "It's… it's even stronger than my Tempest now!"

"Yes! It is… and now, it's going down. Go Koala!"

"Think again!" snapped Clover "… thanks to Tempest's special ability, when he's attacked, I can send Clayman to the graveyard, and Tempest won't be destroyed."

As Tempest glowed and Clover prepared to get rid of Clayman, "… I don't think so." said Ronald "Activate, **_DIVINE WRATH!"_**

Clover and the rest of us gasped one after another. That trap activated in response to monster effects, it stopped Tempest form using his power and vanquished him just like that. "Ah… No way!" cried Clover.

Ronald smirked sinisterly. With the number of monsters on the field changed, he was allowed to replay his attack, and since Clayman was still on the field… his Koala crushed it into dust.

**_(Atk: 3100) VS (Atk: 800)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Clover: 4300 VS Ronald: 6800_**

"Take it easy, will you!" Clover whined "My hair was not designed to take this much punishment."

"Really…? Well how about some more? Go Nin-Ken Dog, and attack her directly!"

The monster charged right at Clover, biting her in the leg and dealing her more damage!

**_(Atk: 1800)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Clover: 2500 VS Ronald: 6800_**

"CLOVER…!" Sam and Alex cried. Though she survived the round, it was really looking grim for her now. She no cards in her hand and nothing out on her field, and was still faced against two big beasts, but she seemed to be complaining more of how long it would take to beautify herself up again. "Oh, why did I ever agree to come out here?" she wept. "And the worst part is how worse it's going to get in jail." She was fretting over how she felt she couldn't win and would be arrested as was agreed.

"Stay strong, Clover!" I called at her "Remember, your deck is full of options just as you stacked it. You still may have a chance, but you just have to try!"

Alex and Sam cheered her on to help encourage her, but Ronald disagreed. "Give me a break… how can you expect that drawing only one card can save you in this?"

Clover was still unsure and looked down at her deck. She then gazed at Ronald and then back to the others and me, and heard us cheering for her, and she also thought that she had been in situations like this tons of times as a spy, and she snapped up right on her feet and spoke severely to Ronald, "If you think I'm going to let some big handsome guy who discriminates against girls knock me out easily, guess again!"

Ronald could hardly believe that after all this Clover was still willing to go for it, and he saw her draw her card and after looking at it, she cheekily grinned back at him. "What? What is it?" Ronald asked.

"What this? Oh, just something I like to call… **_THE WARRIOR RETURNING ALIVE…!"_**

Ronald gasped, while Alex and Sam leapt with joy, and I had a feeling Clover's card would come through for her, now she was allowed to take a warrior out of the graveyard and put it in her hand, and I had a feeling I knew just who she was going to pick…

"I choose, Bubbleman, and since he's the only card in my hand, I can special summon him right to the field!"

**_(Def: 1200)_**

"And that's not all…! Since I have no other cards in play, or in my hand, I get to draw two new cards."

She drew her cards and liked what she had. "Nice! I'll activate the spell **_FUSION RECOVERY! _**So I get back one Polymerization and Burstinatrix back to my hand. Now I'll throw down a facedown and call it a turn."

_"What is she planning now?" _thought Ronald _"I'm surprised she was able to actually summon up a defense. Does this means she wants me to attack? Ugh! I can't let her get to me." _He drew his card, and set it face down on the field, and he ordered his Nin-Ken Dog to attack Bubbleman. "Sorry, but I play **_HERO BARRIER! _**Since I control an Elemental Hero, I can negate your attack!"

"Fine by me…! I'll just attack it again! Go, Big Koala!" and Bubbleman was burst, but Ronald had to end his turn. "Why don't you just make it easier on yourself and give up?" he snarled "I promise, I'll ask them to be nice to you when your locked up."

"Save it!" snapped Clover "My draw… I play **_POT OF GREED!_** So now I draw two more cards."

Alex didn't know how much longer she could take this suspense. Sam felt the same. _"Come on Clover."_ They both thought _"Please draw something good!"_

Clover gazed at her two cards, "Awesome, I don't think I could have asked for anything better. Now I summon another Elemental Hero Avian to the field."

**_(Def: 1000)_**

"And now I'll activate Polymerization, fusing together Avian and Burstinatrix, to create **_ELEMENTAL HERO FLAME WINGMAN!"_**

**_(Atk: 2100)_**

"And if you think I'm done yet, wait until you see me play this card, **_BLOCK ATTACK, _**and I'll use it to turn that overgrown Koala of yours into defense-mode."

**_(Atk: 2100)_**

"What?" Ronald snapped.

"And now… get ready for some big flames. Now, Flame Wingman, go for it!"

Ronald covered his eyes as Flame Wingman unleashed a powerful flare upon his Koala, disintegrating it. "That was my best card!" he growled. "That's the least of your problems…" said Clover "When Flameman destroys a monster, you take damage equal to that monster's attack points, and that's a big 3100!"

The flames blasted at Ronald, and his score dropped badly.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Clover: 2500 VS Ronald: 3700_**

Sam and Alex cheered, and I smiled proudly, but the duel was still not over, and Ronald was not willing to give in a let a girl like Clover beat him, and he drew his card. "I won't lose! I won't!" he snarled. "I activate **_SILENT DOOM_**, so now I can call back one normal monster in my graveyard to the field in defense-mode. So welcome back, Big Koala."

**_(Def: 2000)_**

Ronald was panting tiredly, feeling the duel was taking its toll on him having playing so hard, but it confused us as to why he would play such a card to do that. His Koala couldn't even attack. "I… don't plan… to attack." panted Ronald "I plan on sacrificing… reveal trap, **_TWO PRONGED ATTACK!"_**

Everyone gasped! With that trap, Ronald destroyed his own two monsters and Clover's Wingman just like that, leaving the field totally emptied. He was willing to take a chance that Clover wouldn't draw a good card on her next turn since they both had no cards in their hand, they both felt the duel was now coming down to the wire! "Make… your… move!" he panted.

Clover didn't feel tired, she actually almost felt concerned for Ronald and the way he was really pushing himself to take her down, but she couldn't let it get to her. She drew her card. _"Ah! This is no good!"_ she thought to herself. _"If I could play a monster, I could probably wipe him out and we could get out of here." _but she ultimately had to pass. So Ronald drew his card. "Ha!" he remarked "I call forth **_ENRAGED BATTLE OX!"_**

**_(Atk: 1700)_**

Clover whimpered in shock, and braced herself when Ronald called for it to attack her directly. "You know… I am getting really tired of being attacked by you like this!"

**_SCORE:_**

**_Clover: 800 VS Ronald: 3700_**

Ronald, though weary, snickered sinisterly "Who cares. I've got you where I want you now! Unless you can summon a monster to defend yourself, but then what good would that do? My new Ox has the power to cut through defenses and inflict pricing damage."

"Now you tell me!" grunted Clover.

This was it! We could all feel it in our bones that this would be Clover's last chance to finish the duel for good. It all depended on what she drew next. Sam and Alex had run out of things to say, and even I was feeling nervous, but I stood bravely. "Come on, Clover."

Clover softly laid her hand on her deck and drew one card, and compared it to the other card she had drawn on her last turn. "Hey! This just may work." She murmured. "All right… here goes something; I activate the spell **_MOSNTER REINCARNATION!"_**

"Huh?" remarked Ronald.

"Now, by discarding one card, I get to add one monster from the grave to my hand, and I choose… you guessed it… Bubbleman, which means he gets summoned right now!"

**_(Atk: 800)_**

"And since he's alone again, I get to draw two more cards."

Ronald growled, and Clover placed her fingers over her cards hoping for the absolute best and drew. "All right…! That's the stuff! I play the equip spell, BUBBLE BLASTER, and it boosts Bubbleman's attack by 800!"

**_(Atk: 800) Becomes (Atk: 1600)_**

"Huh! Play all the cards you want… you won't beat me!"

"Um… kinda not done here." said Clover. "Now I play my last card… **_MIRACLE FUSION! _**Now I banish from my graveyard, Avain and Burstinatrix, and once again bring out my old friend, the Flame Wingman!"

**_(Atk: 2100)_**

Ronald yelped in extreme shock and fear. "No, how did you… this can't be happening!"

"Next time, maybe you should think twice when addressing a lady. Go Flame wingman!" and at Clover's orders, Ronald's last monster was destroyed.

**_(Atk: 2100) VS (Atk: 1700)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Clover: 800 VS Ronald: 3300_**

"My ox…! It's gone!"

"And don't forget Wingman's powers… now you lose another 1700 points, equal to your monster's attacks." said Clover, and Flame wingman stepped up and blazed at, Ronald, leaving the score at…

**_SCORE:_**

**_Clover: 800 VS Ronald: 1600_**

"No!"

"This is for woman-kind." Clover said "Go, Bubbleman… wipe him out!" and Bubbleman blasted Ronald hard with his new blaster, wiping him out for good!

**_FINAL-SCORE:_**

**_Clover: 800 VS Ronald: "0000"_**

"She did it!" cried Alex.

"She won!" added Sam, and they leapt up and down hugging and cheering, but all I could do was just stand there with a big, proud smile on my face, and she smiled back at me and proclaimed, "That's game!"

The holograms vanished, and poor Ronald lay on the ground all battered and beat. He could barely keep his eyes open, but it wasn't serious. He was just over exhausted, and all of us approached him.

"You fought well, Ronald…" I told him "But until you learn to have a bit more modesty, and manners, you'll always fail."

Ronald chuckled weakly "It's you who's going to fail. I may have lost here, but I'm only one of the six gatekeepers."

"Six?!" snapped Alex "You mean there's five more of you?"

Ronald wearily nodded. "You may have gotten past me, but you'll never reach the palace. My comrades… they won't be as merciful as I was to you." and he finally passed out into a deep sleep.

"Poor, guy." Sam said "I sure hope he learns to change someday."

We leaned him up comfortable against a tree, and knew he'd be fine. There weren't any wild animals or hazards way out here on an island. So, we entered the forest, to continue on our quest.


	8. Fishing Bugs

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

It was dark enough outside, but inside the forest, with all the trees and brambles blocking the moonlight from above, it was almost too dark to see anything at all, but… the girls had their ex-compacts to shine some light, and I made the millennium necklace glow to give off more light… just another one of its little tricks, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't use me past and future sights, but this wasn't really a bad sign, it meant that even the king was blocking me out, he couldn't stop all my powers.

Suddenly, Alex tripped a root and almost fell flat on her face if Sam hadn't caught her. "Thanks, Sam." she said "I don't know how much more I can take of this forest."

"Speak for yourself." groaned Clover. It was bad enough that she was still a little frazzled from her duel, but even in the darkness we could see she had leaves and twigs in her hair, and green moss stains on her clothes. "Pace yourself, Clover, we've got a bit of ways to go yet." I reminded her.

Suddenly, we could all hear a strange buzzing sound. "Anyone else here that?" asked Sam. We all listened and it sounded like a swarm of insects, the one thing that was present on the island and lurking in the forest, and Clover hated insects. The noise got louder, and she felt that little flick and sound of a bug flying past her ear making her leap up and run on ahead. "Clover, wait up!" I called out to her "You don't know your way around here!"

We all chased off after Clover, and suddenly we found ourselves in a small clearing in the center of the forest, with the moonlight now shining down on us all, and someone was there to meet us; a girl with red hair and done in a very unusual style, the back of her hair stuck out in the shape of fly wings, and two thick threads of her hair in front were curled and stuck up on top like a bug's antenna. "Who are you?" asked Alex.

"Are you one of the gatekeepers hired by Wilhelm?" I added.

The girl stepped forwards and nodded "Welcome, said the spider to the fly." She spoke in a deep yet creepy voice. "I am June, empress of all insects and guardian of the forest where all bugs dwell. If you wish to proceed, beat me in a duel, but fail and I'll haul you into jail as ordered."

She was a lot different than Ronald was, creepier even, but her attitude gave it away that she was an insect duelist. "I'll take you on." said Sam "I've got a deck full of sea creatures. They like bugs… for snacks."

"Go get her, Sammy." said Alex.

Clover didn't know if she was willing to see insect cards come to life all this much, but she cheered Sam as the duelists took their positions and prepared. "An interesting choice, pitting sea-creatures against bugs." said June "But I'm afraid that sort of method won't be enough to save you this time."

"Well, we'll just see then." said Sam, and the game was on. _"…DUEL!"_

**_SCORE:_**

**_Sam: 8000 VS June: 8000_**

"Let's see if you can handle this…" Sam said as she held up her first six cards. "I summon **_ENCHANTING MERMAID_** in attack mode!"

**_(Atk: 1200)_**

"And that ends my turn."

As much as Sam's mermaid seemed pretty, Clover and Alex didn't understand why she would just end her turn like that, and not with a very strong monster, but I had a feeling I knew what she was up to.

For now it was June's turn. "An interesting choice to start off and here's mine… **_BIG INSECT!"_**

**_(Atk: 1200)_**

"Huh? But why play that card? If it attacks my mermaid, they'll both be destroyed."

June admitted that while this was true, she didn't play it for nothing. "Now, observe as I change alter the playing field with the **_FOREST_** card!"

The holographic images warped slightly and more trees and plant life seemed to pop out all over the place. The spies remembered what I had taught about field spell cards, and how every monster had its own specific kind of playing field that it would do best on… almost like a home base. This was one of the island's special features; it contained many different kinds of environments for just about any type of monster there was in the game.

Forests were usually swarming with insects, beasts, and plants… so as long as that field spell remained in play, all Insect, Beast, Plant, and Beast-Warrior monsters would gain 200 attack and defense points.

**_(Atk: 1200) Becomes (Atk: 1400)_**

June ordered her insect to attack, and Sam's mermaid fell.

**_(Atk: 1400) VS (Atk: 1200)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Sam: 7800 VS June: 8000_**

"Now, I'll put one card facedown. I end my turn."

"My draw…" said Sam, and everything was going just as she hoped. She put out her mermaid deliberately to see what sort of strategy Jun would have, now it would be easier to beat… she hoped. "You may have crushed my mermaid, but now me and my **_GREAT WHITE TERROR_** are up."

**_(Atk: 1500)_**

_"Down_ is more like it…" said June "You triggered my trap, **_PARASITE WORM!"_**

"Ah!" cried Sam. That card destroyed her shark the minute it was summoned and Sam took damage equal to its attack power!"

**_SCORE:_**

**_Sam: 6300 VS June: 8000_**

"Whoa! That was so incredibly cheap!" growled Clover.

"Yeah, how is Sammy supposed to defend herself is she can't even get a monster in play?" added Alex.

Sam, however, seemed to be taking it calmly and she grinned sinisterly. "You've done just what I thought you would."

"What?!" snapped June.

"Huh?" went Alex and Clover.

Sam then grabbed one of her cards. "I activate this spell card, **_TURTLE OATH!"_**

"Ah! A Ritual spell!" growled June.

"Right, and now I sacrifice these two monsters from my hand, and now I can ritual summon something even bigger, **_CRAB TURTLE!"_**

**_(Atk: 2550)_**

June gazed up at the fierce monster gnashing is huge claws, and Sam ordered it to attack, squashing June's monster like the bug it was.

**_(Atk: 2550) VS (Atk: 1400)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Sam: 6300 VS June: 6850_**

Sam them explained "I had a feeling you set a trap for me, because even with your field power bonus your bug still wasn't very strong and not smart to be left out in the open. That's why I made sure to have a backup creature in reserve."

I was impressed with Sam's thinking, but not how she was getting so cocky about it. True, she had a strong monster in play, but her life points were still lower and she had only one card in her hand, plus it was no June's turn.

"It appears I've underestimate you." she said as she drew her card, "But don't think that means I'm out yet. One thing you should know about insects… is they are very, very sneaky." and she ended her turn by placing her monster in defense-mode.

_"Why did she play that facedown?" _Sam thought, and she suddenly deep in thought and pondering over whether to attack or not.

"What's with, Sam?" asked Clover "I mean, one minute she's running and now it looks like she's just going to be running."

"She's trying to consider her options." I said. "Sam may have a strong monster, but to summon it, she used up a lot of cards in her hand, and June may be using this to her advantage. That monster she set may have a powerful ability that could put Sam at risk, but it all depends on what happens next."

Sam drew her card, now having two in her hand, and she didn't want to let June get to her, and decided to go for it. "Crab Turtle, attack!" and June's monster flipped up and was destroyed, but before it died, the image of the bug leapt onto Sam's deck. "What's going on?" snapped Sam.

June snickered and explained that bug she hit was called **_NEEDLE WORM _**"Since you flipped it up, you are now forced to discard the top five cards on your deck."

Same gasped in shock, but she was forced to comply and tossed out five valuable cards that could have helped her. "I have plenty of other cards left." she said "For now I place one of them face down, and end my turn."

June sniggered softly and drew her next card. "You seem a bit bugged." she mocked "But then what would you expect when dealing with an expert like me?" and she ended her turn with another facedown monster. "Oh, no, not another one…!" Sam groaned silently.

Clover and Alex each tried to urge Sam not to attack like she did before, but I told them to let Sam make her own decisions. "But what if she sets off another booby trap?" asked Alex.

"I'm aware of the risk…" I said "But don't you see? The thing you understand about Sam is that she forces her opponents to reveal their cards, and therefore makes it easier to combat them. She won't win if she just sits and does nothing either, and it may end up making things worse for her."

"My draw now…" Sam said "If you think you can bug me with bugs, think again. Attack, Crab Turtle!"

Her monster attacked, and this time the hidden monster was revealed to be a **_MAN-EATER BUG! _**"Oh, no!" cried Sam.

"Oh, yes…" hissed June "You destroyed my bug, now my bug destroys you!" Now both girls had lost their monsters leaving the field almost barren, and Sam had no choice but to end her turn. "Sam! What are you doing?" snapped Alex, concerned that Sam had no monsters to protect her.

Sam wasn't too concerned about that. _"True, I don't have any monsters in play…" _she thought, _"But I do still have my facedown **TRAP HOLE. **If June summons a monster that has 1000 attack points or more, I'll crush it right there!"_

"My turn is it? Fine…" said June "And I think it's time I started laying out some vengeance for all the bugs you've squashed… starting with this, **_PETIT MOTH!"_**

**_(Def: 200) Becomes (Def: 400)_**

"Huh?" Sam gawked in confusion.

"Ew, that thing is so gross!" cried Clover.

"Hold on…" said Alex "Why would she play that puny little thing, and in defense mode too."

I wondered this especially, even if it were in attack mode it wouldn't do much damage. Most duelists I knew only played that Petit Moth for one reason and one reason only. Then suddenly I realized "Oh, no!"

"…And if you think you can squash this tiny bug, think again when I play this card, **_COCOON OF EVOLUTION!"_**

We all watched as that slimy little worm spewed silk all over itself. "Ugh!" groaned Sam, and the rest of us felt sick just watching it. "Okay, going to puke here!" cried Clover.

**_(Def: 2000)_**

Before long, the moth had completely encased itself in a gigantic cocoon. Sam couldn't destroy it with her trap, but that was only the least of her problems. Very slowly, that moth was growing inside the cocoon, and after four of June's turn it would evolve in ta very strong monster of her own. Plus, it also got 200 extra defense points from the Forest card, putting it at 2200.

"Four turns is still a long time." said Sam.

"Perhaps, that's why I'll place these two cards facedown for now, to end my turn." said June. Now Sam was really in a spot. She drew her next card hoping for something big, but it wasn't all that good, plus, she still had those other two facedown cards to worry about now too. "I'll just throw this in defense mode, and end my turn."

"As you wish…" hissed June as she drew her card. "That's one turn down and just three to go. In the meantime I activate my facedown card, **_SWORDS OF REVEALING LIGHT!"_**

One by one, each of us gasped. "Not that card!" I shouted, as glowing mystical swords materialized all around Sam's side of the field. "I know this card..." she said "Now I can't call any attacks for three whole turns."

"Correct." said June "And it also reveals your monster to me." And the hidden monster turned out to be a simple **_AQUA MADOOR, _**with a defense of 2000. "My, my… it bites, doesn't it?"

Sam was really growing annoyed with all her smart bug remarks, but her options weren't looking very promising. She couldn't attack, and even if she could, she didn't have anything strong enough at the moment. What worried her most was when that moth would finish evolving, but she wasn't willing to give up yet. She hadn't spent all her time in my classes studying the game for nothing.

June place one monster in defense mode, and ended her turn, and Sam drew her next card. _"Hmm… maybe I can't attack just yet, but maybe I can build up a defense to help me. It's worth a shot."_

**_"ISLAND TURTLE…_** defense mode!"

**_(Def: 2000)_**

That ended her turn leaving only two turns to go until the swords would wear off. June could only snicker as she drew her next card. "That's all you can do now is defend, but it won't do you any good." And she flipped up her monster, which was another Needle Worm…

**_(Atk: 750) Becomes (Atk: 950)_**

…which forced Sam to lose another five vital cards she could have used.

"Sam's getting creamed up there." cried Alex.

"Come on, Sammy! You must have some sort of giant fly swatter or something." hollered Clover.

"SILENCE!" shouted June. "You dare make another comment about my insects like that again, and you'll regret it."

Clover gritted her teeth and felt like rushing her, but Alex and I struggled to hold her back so the duel could continue. June ended her turn, leaving her cocoon with only two turns to go, and Sam drew her card. She grunted softly, obviously giving away that she hadn't drawn something she could use, and it was all because of that Needle Worm. She hated the sight of it, yet all she could do at the moment was place a card facedown, and end her turn, leaving the swords with only one turn to go.

June drew her next card, and gazed at it wickedly. None of us liked it when she got that look in her eyes, and she placed the card that she drew facedown to keep Sam on edge. _"Only one turn remains now."_ she thought as she gazed at her cocoon.

_"One turn left!" _Sam thought it too _"This is my last chance. I've got to figure out a way to bust that thing down!" _She drew her next card, and noted that maybe she could use it later on, but for now, she didn't do anything at all, and passed her turn, and the swords vanished.

Clover and Alex felt chills run up their spines as June drew her card, and the cocoon began to wobble and pulse. "This is it. It's coming!" I said.

The cocoon glowed in a bright flash which was almost too bright too gaze at and when the light had faded, there it was. "Behold!" shouted June "My greatest and most devastating creature is here! **_GREAT MOTH…!"_**

**_(Atk: 2600) Becomes (Atk: 2800)_**

"Whoa!" cried Sam "That is one big bug!"

Alex and Clover couldn't look away from it either, and neither could I. It was very often that most duelists were able to successfully bring it out like that.

"Yes… stare into the face of defeat, for its hungry for a taste of bug swatters like you." June hissed "But then… you still have monsters blocking my way. We can't have this, so I'll play **_RAGEKI!"_**

"Ah!" cried Sam as her two monsters were zapped into ashes. "Talk about being bug-zapped."

June snickered, and then ordered her Great Moth to attack Sam directly… and it hit her full force with a powerful wind blast knocking her off her feet.

**_(Atk: 2800)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Sam: 3500 VS June: 6850_**

"Sammy!" cried Clover.

"She totally lost a lot of points with that attack." added Alex, and worse than that, June still had her Needle Worm, and ordered it to attack.

**_(Atk: 950)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Sam: 2550 VS June: 6850_**

As much I didn't like to be negative, I couldn't help but feel worried about Sam. "If she doesn't do something and fast on her next turn, she'll be all wiped out for sure."

Sam recovered from the shockwaves and glared at June who was laughing maliciously at her. "Now isn't this a pity?" she taunted "The mighty creatures of the ocean being zapped by the very insects they prey on, and you taking the hit for them."

Sam stood straight and tall "I'm not out yet, and you might not want to get so cocky. That's the first key towards failure."

"Enough!" growled June "My Great Moth cannot be stopped."

"I doubt that…" Sam said as she drew a fourth card, and her smile widened. "You want Payback, well try this for Payback. I activate the spell **_SOUL EXCHANGE!"_**

"What?!" snapped June.

"Oh, yeah… now I can take one of your monsters and tribute it so I can summon a stronger monster of my own."

Alex and Clover looked hopeful, figuring Sam was going to take the Great Moth and automatically send it to the graveyard and be rid of it. "Say goodbye to your big bad bug!"

"Oh, really…? Guess again!" sneered June "I activate **_SHIFT!"_**

Sam gasped, for that trap card allowed June to shift the effects of her spell card from the Great Moth to any other monster she had in play. So Sam got the Needle Worm instead. "Oh, well… it still helps." Sam said "I'll sacrifice your Needle Worm, and summon this creature, **_AMPHIBIAN BEAST!"_**

**_(Atk: 2400)_**

"Now I'll place one card face down. That ends my turn!"

Sam wasn't allowed to attack for having played Soul Exchange. Even so, Clover and Alex didn't understand what Sam hoped to accomplish with such a weak monster like that, but I had a feeling Sam was up to something.

June thought this had gone on far enough and drew her next card. "For the record, you do fight well, but in the end… the insects always win. Go, Great Moth! Attack…!"

"Don't think so!" said Sam "I activate **_TRAP REVERSE!"_**

"Ah!" cried June.

"I guess you know then… this card taps into the field and reverses all power up effects. So now, instead of increasing your bug's power, the Forest card decreases your power by 200 points, making it equal to mine."

**_(Atk: 2800) Becomes (Atk: 2400)_**

The two monsters dashed towards each other. "They'll both be destroyed!" cried Alex.

"No, they won't!" Sam said I activate the trap, **_WABOKU. _**Now, thanks to it, I won't take any battle damage if there was any, and my monster can't be destroyed in battle."

The two monsters collided in a big explosion. Everyone shielded their eyes, and when the smoke had cleared… both monsters were still standing. "What… what happened?" asked Clover "I thought Sam was supposed to win that battle."

June was then heard laughing wickedly, and then we could see why. There, right next to her was a holographic image of her own Waboku card; her second face down card. "Surprised? Did you think you were the only one to possess such a card?"

Sam growled realizing she had been outwitted, and at the end of June's turn Great Moth's attack went back up to 2800. "Make your move…" June said "I promise it shall be your last."

Sam had already drawn her card. It was **_POT OF GREED_** and with it she drew two more cards and she liked what she drew so much that she grinned wickedly. "You bet it's my last move, only I'm going to win it now."

"You lie!" growled June.

"I don't lie when I don't have to." protested Sam "That last move actually helped me more than you realize, as it used up all your traps, and a thought just occurs to me about something about monsters and my opponents… if you can't beat them, join them!"

"First I play the spell, **_MONSTER REBORN_**, and I know just which monster to revive to; **_CATAPULT TURTLE!"_**

**_(Atk: 1000)_**

"Bet you're sorry, you and your pesky Needle Worms sent him to my graveyard now."

"I'm not impressed!" sneered June "And here I was thinking you'd bring back something worth worrying about."

"Oh, but wait… there's more." said Sam "Remember what I said… if you can't beat them, join them… or better, have them join you. I play **_CHANGE OF HEART, _**and I'll use it to take control of your Great Moth!"

"What…?! No!" cried June, but her moth had already flown over to join Sam on her side of the field right by her Amphibian Beast. "You may love your bugs so much, but let's see how much they love you now." And she ordered all three monsters to attack with combination totaling 6200 points of perfect damage. The shockwaves hit June with such a tremendous force.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Sam: 2550 VS June: 650_**

"Big deal!" snarled June "You haven't won yet, and at the end of your turn, my moth will return to me."

"No it won't." said Sam "If you let me finish my move, you'd know that Catapult Turtle can launch any monster I have on the field straight at you."

June gasped and watched as her Great Moth was loaded onto the launcher of the turtle. "No…! Wait…! You can't do this!"

"Ha! Watch me." Said Sam and she ordered her turtle to fire and launch the Great Moth right at June. The turtle fired and the moth flew straight at June, she tried to run for it, but was hit by the huge holographic explosion… and half of Great Moth's attack power was dealt to her as damage, ending the duel.

**_FINAL-SCORE:_**

**_Sam: 2550 VS June: "0000"_**

Alex and Clover leapt for joy and clapped my hands proudly for Sam. "Well done, Sam! That was an excellent performance."

Sam stood proudly and gazed at June. She felt very proud all her studying and mastering the rules of the game had paid off. Poor June couldn't believe that her insects had lost, and despite how rude and nasty she had acted during the duel, accepted her defeat honorably and let us pass. "But make no mistake…" she said "Someday we shall meet again… and when we do, my bugs will be bigger and stronger than ever."

Sam simply narrowed her eyes at her, and we all watched as June walked leapt up high into the trees and vanished into the darkness of the forest.

Soon, Sam was approached by Clover and Alex and they group hugged in cheer for Sam's victory. I was happy too, but I calmed the girls down. "Settle down, ladies. We haven't made it yet."

"He's right." Sam agreed "Let's get going." And we walked back into the forest to continue our way to the palace. We had two gatekeepers down, and four to go.


	9. Past Passions

**_Author's notes:_**

**_A reminder, I said at the start that very few Yugioh characters that actually appear in these series, this one is just a rewritten version for this universe (The spies, not the Yugioh) that I really think is funny and cute._**

**_It's not the actual character, but rather a revision._**

**CHAPTER NINE**

In his palace, King Wilhelm had been observing everything, and was slightly impressed that the spies and I had taken down two of his gatekeepers already. "He's got a lot of spunk, that kid." he admitted to himself "Still… it makes no different how hard he and his little girlfriends strive. In the end, I'll be the winner. Everyone always goes my way when I say."

…

The girls and I trudged through the forest. Sam was feeling a little beat from her duel; it really took it out of you standing there, strategizing and taking all those hits, but she and the others were willing to press on for me, and soon we made it out of the forest completely with the moonlight once again shining down on us, and fresher air to breathe. "Well it's about time." Clover groaned as she honestly didn't know if she ever wanted to see another tree again as long as she lived.

Right before stood a large pond, too small to be a lake, but large enough that we'd have to walk all the way around it. The moon and the stars reflected on its surfacing giving off a most elegant glow. "This place..." I said "I used to take Sabrina here a lot…"

I had memories of flash by of when Sabrina and I were dating before we became engaged. As this area of the island was normally forbidden to students, we came here often on late night picnics. I even brought a small boom-box that played slow soothing songs and we would dance under the stars. It soon became our special place, one that we enjoyed to spend our late night dates on clear nights better than any other place.

…I just stood where I was sighing softly with my cheeks all pink. The girls thought it was sweet that under my tough exterior was a soft, kind-hearted man in love.

I reached up and gripped the millennium necklace, reminding me to keep going. "I will get you back, Sabrina. That's a promise." I just only wish I was able to look ahead into the immediate future to see if everything would be okay. I almost hated having to put the spies through all the trial and hardship.

"Mykan…" Alex said as she approached me and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "We'll get your girl back. Trust us. We've never let anything slow us down before, and we're not about to start losing it now."

Clover and Sam nodded in agreement and together it felt as if we were all forming a real team; an unstoppable force to be reckoned with. I liked this. I was seeing the girls not as just former students, but as friends.

Suddenly, we heard what sounded like a bazooka being fired, and we looked up and could see the projectile heading right for us. "Look out!" screamed Sam and we all leapt out of the way just as the shot missed.

More shot were fired and they seemed only to be directed at me. I ran, swerved, and leapt out of the way of each and every shot. Before I tripped on a rock and fell flat on the ground just as another shot came at me. Alex pushed me out of the way, but ended up getting hit by the blast. _"ALEX!" _we all shouted, but really as the dirt cleared, Alex was okay and in one piece without even a minor injury. She was just covered in dust and soil. "What the…?"

We all then noticed that everywhere the other shots hit, there was no serious damage, but just ordinary soil. "These are just dirt-bombs." said Sam. This really confused us, but we really wanted to know who was firing at us and from where. Suddenly, Clover saw a flash coming from the trees by the forest edge. "Heads up!" she cried and we all looked saw the projectile heading right for us. Clover leapt up high and kicked the projectile hard sending it soaring back from whence it came at the trees. It exploded and someone fell down from in the branches to the ground… dressed in the same dark outfit as the gatekeepers, but also had on a matching hood hiding her face. "Look!" cried Sam.

The gatekeeper got to her feet and held her gun up again. "Now I've got you, Mykan Jaden." she sneered. "That voice…!" I said "I know that voice!" and I quickly dodged her shot.

The spies leapt in and surrounded the girl, and Alex angrily kicked the launcher out of the girl's hands. Then they all proceeded to hold the girl down, but the girl fought back and returned attacks to the spies. "Wow! Whoever she is, she's good." said Sam.

"Oh, this is going to leave a mark." groaned Alex. The mystery girl was about to strike again, when suddenly her body was glowing softly and she couldn't move. I was using a spell of the millennium necklace I had learned and mastered to paralyze people on the spot. I walked over to the girl and pulled off her hood. "Alexis."

The spies gazed back and forth at one another. "You know her?" asked Clover.

"Yeah, I know her." I said and I let her go from my spell. "Alexis Rhodes… a former Obelisk Blue from the girls dorm, I met her during my second year when I became an Obelisk."

"That's right…" Alexis said "…And now I serve as the gatekeeper of the water, and suppose you want to know why?"

"Do enlighten us." Sam said in a low tone.

Alexis gazed and pointed her finger at me "I want revenge for what you did to me, or rather what you didn't do!"

Alexis and her friends, and two former friends of hers, Mindy and Jasmine, also Obelisk Blues, they were among the first I met when I became an Obelisk in my second year. My first impressions of them were not very high. They were the popular girls of Obelisk Blue, sometimes acting snooty and rude to others, especially the Slifer Reds. I walked right up to the girls and stood up to them for student rights, that's when I first spoke with Alexis, and you bet things got heated up, and we had a duel… and she lost to me. Mindy and Jasmine were outraged, but Alexis began to feel there was something different about me.

We dueled quite a few times during term and were even paired up for a tag-team duel, and she wasn't acting all snooty like she used to be… at least not around me. Then, one day, Alexis found a love note from a secret admirer under her door at the dorms.

"Oh, no…! Not that again!" I mumbled under my breath."

Alexis had no idea who sent it, but could tell that some guy really liked her. As the days went by she received a few more letters. Then, one day it was raining pouring hard on the island, and Alexis was stuck at the entrance to the school and couldn't make her way back to the dorms.

Suddenly, I bumped into her as I ran holding my umbrella and I couldn't see her. We both fell over; I apologized and gasped when I realized who it was mainly because I still didn't trust her that much. She gazed back at me, and then, just wanting to get out of there really fast I let her have my umbrella, I was already sweaty from my duels that day anyway, and I just ran off through the rain.

"That's when it hit me." Alexis said "I felt he must have written me those notes. Why else would he be acting so distant towards me?"

"Alexis… I keep telling you, I did not send you those notes!" I said with frustration in my voice, and surprisingly Alexis admitted she knew, but didn't care. "How could you have noticed before that I was head over heels in love with you before that, Mykan?"

"…What?" I asked in shock.

"What?!" added the spies.

Alexis explained that she had dueled against me many times because she wanted to try and impress me with her skills… which she did, and had practically rigged the ballots so I would always get partnered with her. She and her friends even pulled a couple of pranks on me, like putting glue in my seat, or putting rocks and worms in my lunch food, even leaving me notes in my own locker in the entrance hall, which I never answered back as I thought they were only childish pranks from other bullying students.

"You didn't!" cried Clover.

I hated to admit it, but it was true. I just up and threw all the notes away believing them to be nothing more than pranks. Besides, Alexis even realized that was I already in love with someone else… it had to be Princess Sabrina! Alexis felt crushed!

"And so now, here we stand." she said. "It's timed you paid up for how you made me feel. That's why I'm here."

Clover and Alex felt they could relate to Alexis, and almost looked as if they were taking her side, only for Sam to forcefully remind them whose side they were really on.

"Alexis… I'm sorry if I hurt you, I didn't know." I said to her, but Alexis would not accept my apology, and felt as if I was just leading her on. "I'm not leading you on." I protested "Besides, even if I did know you liked me, I was in love with Sabrina. You and I could never have been a thing."

The spies gasped, knowing that girls didn't like to be told that, especially from crushes, and something inside Alexis snapped. "That's it!" she growled and she tackled me hard to me to the ground and pointed her spare bazooka at me. "Wait!" I said "Isn't there some other way we can settle this?"

"What do you mean?" asked Alexis.

"You're a gatekeeper, and your job is to stop us, right? Well, why not settle this with a duel instead?"

"A duel…?" Alexis thought on it for a moment and then she grinned wickedly. "Fine… but on one condition, you lose this duel, you forget about the princess, and you become my boyfriend."

The spies were livid "Don't do it, Mykan!" cried Alex.

"She's just blackmailing you." added Sam.

Clover wasn't sure what to vote for, both sides were equally about everything she stood for… mainly getting what you wanted when it involved extreme romance. "Can you get back to me?" she asked shyly.

Even I wasn't too keen with odds like that stacked on just one duel, but then I thought back to my beloved Sabrina, and how not accepted the duel meant we wouldn't get to proceed. "I have no choice." I said "I'll do it!"

Alexis liked my attitude; it was one of those many things she liked about. We both stood our grounds and readied up for the duel. "I hope you're ready, Mykan." Alexis said to me "…ready to lose."

"I won't lose, Alexis. Not to you. Remember, I dueled against you many times before and I beat you every single time."

"Well you won't this time, because I've put together an extra special deck, for you and to only use against you, and when this duel is over… even the cards will show you how much I really care about you." she acted all mysterious and yet slightly dazed, which really confused me, but Clover felt different. "That is defiantly a girl of determination." she said "You go girlfriend." But Sam and Alex tacked to her to the ground furiously. "Clover, what's the matter with you?!" growled Sam. "We're supposed to be rooting for Mykan, not Alexis!" added Alex.

Nevertheless, Alexis and I were ready. "I know I can do this. I just have to." I kept saying to myself, and then I faced Alexis and we shouted _"…DUEL!"_


	10. Dueling with Love

**CHAPTER TEN**

The scores were set…

**_SCORE:_**

**_Alexis: 8000 VS Mykan: 8000_**

"Ladies first…" I insisted.

"Fine by me..." Alexis said as she held up her cards "Get ready to feel my love, Mykan. I play **_MAIDEN IN LOVE!"_**

"Who…?" I asked in shock and watched as what had to be one of the prettiest monsters I had ever seen appear in the images.

**_(Atk: 400)_**

The girls were amazed too, they had never seen that card before, and neither had I, as some cards were only just being created or were not yet released to the general public. "I told you, you wouldn't be prepared for this." Alexis said. She then flirtatiously winked at me and she just ended her turn like that.

_"What?!"_ the girls shouted and exchanged views on how the maiden had hardly any attack points, but even I felt that something fishy was going on. As I had never seen the card before, I had no idea what it was capable of doing. "I guess there's only one way to find out." I said as I held up my cards. "I summon **_NEO THE MAGIC SWORDSMAN_** in attack mode!"

**_(Atk: 1700)_**

"…Attack!"

My handsome swordsman dashed at the pretty maiden, slashing her right across making her scream in pain and she fell to her knees, and while Alexis did take damage…

**_(Atk: 1700) VS (Atk: 400)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Alexis: 6700 VS Mykan: 8000_**

...to my surprise, "What's this? Your maiden should have been destroyed."

Alexis snickered "Sorry to break your heart, Mykan, but my maiden's special ability prevents her from being destroyed, as long as she stays in attack mode, but that's not all she does…"

"Huh…?" I wondered, and watched as Alexis fiddled with a couple of controls on her duel disk, and the holographic images began to act very strangely. "Just watch this… it's a little something I've been preparing just for your lovely eyes."

She had a special duel disk that when the proper cards were played in just the right way, the images would actually act out performances, much like being at a theatrical play…

My Neo walked over to the fallen maiden that he had just struck, and he was actually apologizing. _"Do forgive me for being so harsh. Are you hurt badly?"_

_"Maybe… or maybe not."_ the sweet maiden replied.

The girls saw everything. "Check it out. Mykan's monster's gone head-over-heels for that girl." said Alex. "I've never seen anything like this before." said Sam. "Neither have I…" remarked Clover in a lovey daze "Oh, it's so romantic, they're falling in love."

Alex and Sam angrily grumbled at Clover's stupidity, but Alexis assured us all "That's exactly what's happening, and happens to be my maiden's other ability." We then watched as the maiden blew a soft kiss towards my Neo, and there on his chest appeared a small pink heart. "What's that thing on my monster?" I asked.

"It's a _Maiden Counter, _but more on that later."

All this love and scenery was starting to freak me out, but I placed one card facedown and ended my turn. "Aw, don't feel bad about it, my sweet…" Alexis teased as she drew her card, and liked what she got and cheekily thought to herself _"I know… this may be a bit far from my normal duelist style, but it looks like "Operation Love Scene" is really doing its charm. Now for the next step in making Mykan mine!"_

"All right, I activate the equip-spell **_CUPID KISS!"_**

Yet another card that neither I nor the girls had ever seen before, and as curious about it as we were, we all had a bad feeling it could be good… for me, but surprisingly, Alexis ordered her maiden to attack my Neo.

"What…?!" I snapped in shock and confusion. "Just watch, and learn… and love." Alexis said, and the image theatrics continued as the maiden seemingly, and romantically rushed towards my Neo, claiming to be nice, and she tripped over his sword falling to the ground… which was actually the result of her being too weak to actually attack him.

**_(Atk: 1700) VS (Atk: 400)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Alexis: 5400 VS Mykan: 8000_**

"Hey, you big bully…! Pick on someone your own size!" hollered Clover "Attacking a poor, innocent, loving angel like that."

"Oh, boy…" Alex muttered in dismay.

"Clover… keep in mind, it's just a card your talking too." said Sam.

_"How could attack me like that. You're so mean!"_ the poor maiden cried. I felt awkward about this whole thing, and so did Sam and Alex, but both Clover and Alexis liked what they saw next. Neo got down and apologies wholeheartedly. _"Please… tell me… is there anything I can do to make up for my horrid actions?"_

_"Well, actually there is…" _she turned to face me _"You can help me take down that wicked young man over there."_

"Surprised…?" Alexis said "Well you ought to be. See, when my maiden is attacked by a monster that has a maiden counter on it, Cupid Kiss allows me to seize control of that monster."

I gasped in shock, knowing what this mean, and sure enough, Alexis ordered Neo to attack me directly. My own swordsman slashed at me, and I groaned as the shockwaves hit me and I was dealt me 1700 points of damage.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Alexis: 5400 VS Mykan: 6300_**

I was physically okay from the strike. "Hang tough, Mykan!" hollered Sam.

Alexis sniggered "I had almost forgotten how cute you look after getting struck by monsters."

I growled at her, but Alexis placed two cards facedown. "But soon it'll be the end of the duel, and the beginning for us." she winked at me again, but for now it was my move and I drew my card, but I knew I had to be careful, and I thought if maybe I could get rid of the maiden or the Cupid Kiss card, none of my monsters would be controlled anymore, but I'd have to play it carefully.

"I activate the spell card, **_FISSURE!" _**I shouted "Thanks to this spell card, the monster on your field with the lowest attack power is automatically destroyed. So your Maiden in Love is crushed!"

"Oh, no she's not!" snapped Alexis "I activate the counter-trap card, **_MAGIC DRAIN!"_**

"Ah!" That card I recognized, and unless I could discard a spell card from my hand to stop, which I could not as I hadn't any- my Fissure card was then negated and destroyed. "Sorry, Mykan, but it'll take more than that to break my maiden's heart."

I growled softly, and I thought to myself _"She's really going to strong lengths to protect that maiden."_ I gazed at my Neo and realized that maybe it would be best if I took out my own monster to prevent her from using it against me.

"Reveal facedown card, **_CARD DESTRUCTION!"_**

"Hm…?"

"Now we both must discard every card in our hand to the graveyard, and then redraw the same number of cards we had."

"Fine by me." said Alexis. She drew three, and I drew four, and that moved helped me do just what I needed. "Prepare yourself, Alexis, I activate **_MONSTER REBORN!_** To revive a monster that I had just thrown into the graveyard and it happens to be my personal favorite. The **_DARK MAGICIAN…!"_**

**_(Atk: 2500)_**

The spies were amazed by the sight of my newest monster. "That guy is so cool." said Sam. "Totally." said Alex "If I weren't so obsessed with finding a Red Eyes, I'd want that card."

I prepared for my battle phase "If it means so, then I have no choice. Dark Magician, attack my swordsman! _Dark Magic Attack…!"_

My magician aimed his powerful staff and fired…

"Not so fast, Mykan!" snapped Alexis "I activate the trap **_DEFENSE MAIDEN!_** Watch closely now…"

I watched as the magic attack headed straight at Neo, and suddenly the maiden leapt right in front of him, taking the shot. "Oh, no…!" I cried.

"Oh, yes…!" sniggered Alexis "My trap  
deflects to attack to my Maiden in Love, so she takes the hit. True, it costs me some points…"

**_(Atk: 2500) VS (Atk: 400)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Alexis: 3300 VS Mykan: 6300_**

"…But I bet you know what happens now…"

I said nothing, and just gawked in dismay as a maiden counter appeared on my magician, and the the images began to act again!

The poor maiden lay shuttering in pain from the attack. She was more frightened and upset than hurt. Neo angrily glared at Dark Magician and scolded him severely _"Dark Magician, have you no shame?! Attacking a poor defenseless maiden like that!"_

The Dark Magician began to feel very ashamed and got down on his knees begging for forgiveness. _"Please, my lovely maiden. If there anything I can do… just tell me!"_

The maiden gazed up at him _"Anything? Well, nothing comes to mind yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something."_

I brought my hand to my head in dismay. "This can't be happening?" I groaned. Nevertheless it was still my turn. "I'll set one monster in defense mode, ending my turn."

"Playing hard to get, are you?" Alexis teased as she drew her next card. "Well, let's see if I can rope you into commitment. I activate the equip-spell **_HAPPY MARRIAGE!"_**

We all watched as the maiden went under a magical transformation, from her normal attire into a beautiful wedding gown. Clover went positively wild. "She looks so incredibly adorable!" she cried, much to Sam and Alex's annoyance.

Alexis snickered and told everyone that her maiden bride now gained the attack points of my Neo "…if he says _"I do"_ that is." And we all watched as Neo held the bride's hand indicating his acceptance, and the bride grew stronger… to 2100 attack points. "Now then… let's have her pay a visit to Dark Magician!" Alexis shouted, and just like before, her bride ran to my stronger monster and tripped over his staff… the result of the battle failing.

**_(Atk: 2100) VS (Atk: 2500)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Alexis: 2900 VS Mykan: 6300_**

The poor bride, again, burst into tears and scolded the magician. _"How could you do that…?! You said you'd do anything for me!"_

Dark Magician got down, helped her up, and apologized wholeheartedly. _"I will make it up to you. Tell me your wish."_

My magician, just like Neo, was now in Alexis' control, and the bride then gazed sinisterly at me. "Oh, boy…!" I groaned. _"I wish that you'd both beat up that man over there!"_ cried the bride.

Alexis' eye shimmered, and she first ordered Neo to destroy my facedown card. It was the **_MAGICIAN OF FAITH._** She was destroyed, but her effect allowed me to add one spell card in the graveyard to my hand. So I got back Monster Reborn, feeling I would need it. "There's no escape, Mykan. You can't hide from love." said Alexis. "Dark Magician, attack him directly!"

I braced myself and growled fiercely as my own monster blasted me hard and dealt me 2500 points of damage.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Alexis: 2900 VS Mykan: 3800_**

I was still on my feet, but Alexis was laughing with glee. "All right…! Looks, like you're beaten, Mykan." she said to me. "Just one turn to go, and then… you and I can start planning on our future."

She fell into such a deep and romantic daze that she began to see it now… there we were, standing before the alter and a man asking me if I took Alexis as my wife, to which I answered "I do"

And in our married life, we'd duel around the world, entering many tournaments and crushing everyone in our paths, and we'd settle down into a big mansion in the country and have our children.

Alex wiped her brow "That girl is seriously freaking me out."

"Never mind that; imagine how Mykan must feel." said Sam. Before Clover could say anything, Sam and Alex covered her mouth _"We don't want to hear it!" _they both said.

I, on the other hand, stood tall. "It's not over yet Alexis." I said to her. "Look at yourself, at what you've become!"

"Huh?"

"You're not the same duelist I remember you as. You never used to let your emotions get to you like this, and look what it's done to your dueling style; you've been attacking me foolishly so many times, and lowering your life points so much."

Alex felt her mind twisting and turning. "I…well I… What choice do I have?!" she suddenly shouted. She almost looked as if she were about to burst into tears. "I know all this stuff, but… you have to understand… I'm in love with you, Mykan. I want to be with you." she snapped her head up right and growled with all her heart and soul "…And I'm willing… to do whatever it takes… to make that happen!"

I said nothing, and the spies, even Clover were speechless. Alexis was either really crazy or really desperate. "Alexis…" I said to her "I understand how you must feel."

She stood there gazing at me.

"…But you also must know how I feel about the princess." I pulled down my kerchief so she could see the millennium necklace. I griped it softly. "The princess and I share a deep love that, no matter how hard you try, you just cannot break. Not even if you played a million cards at once. Besides, what if I were to lose this duel and forced to live up to the agreement and be yours- What then? What good would that do you to be with me knowing that my heart belonged to someone else, and that I would never feel for you the way I do Sabrina…?"

Alexis clenched her fist tightly furiously, knowing that I had a point there, but she didn't care about all that. She knew she would win me over, and the sooner she beat me the sooner she could get started. "Make your move!" she demanded.

"I will… and I will defeat you." I drew my card. "I play, **_POT OF GREED _**so I am now able to draw two more cards." I drew my two cards. One of them was exactly what I needed to help seize control of the duel, and the other really intrigued me.

"Hey, check out Mykan." Alex said "…Looks like he drew something pretty huge."

"Whatever it is, I hope it'll help him." said Sam.

I suddenly started chuckling. "Alexis… I've just discovered one entirely incredible flaw in your strategy, but rather than just telling you, I'll show it to you. I activate the spell **_MONSTER REINCARNATION!"_** I used it to discard the card I had just drawn, and get back a monster I had thrown in the graveyard earlier when I discarded my hand. "And now… once again I activate Reborn the Monster, and I'll give you a hint of which monster I'm bringing back… the one I just discarded. Now behold the powers of **_DARK MAGICIAN GIRL!"_**

**_(Atk: 2000)_**

"A female dark magician?!" snapped Alexis.

I nodded and reminded her of a story regarding the two magicians, of how once a young girl went to incredible lengths to be the best that she could be in mastering the art of magic, but failed every time, until a wise and powerful sorcerer offered her an apprenticeship and helped her to master her powers; the Dark Magician.

This girl soon began to realize the errors of her past attempts and became as skilled as her master. She became Dark Magician Girl. She began to grow closer to her teacher and wished to help protect him when he needed her most… just as he did for her out of care and deep affection.

They had fallen in love…

"And just like my love for Sabrina, I doubt theirs can be broken either."

The images began to act up again, and both Neo and Dark Magician felt child run up their spines. _"D-Dark… Dark Magician Girl… I… I…"_

_"Save it!" _snapped his girlfriend _"I can't believe you… after all we went through together, and after all we had done for one another, you would just run off with some stray girl who's just using you for her own ends."_ Her voice started to become tearful, as the tears from her eyes.

The two male monsters gazed at each other and then back again. Alexis gazed at the tearful Dark Magician Girl, and began to realize in a sense of what was happening, and how her maiden was trying to steal the happiness from someone else… almost like how she was trying to take me from Sabrina.

I could see now that this was the right moment for me to use my second card "All right! Now I activate the **_HEAVY STORM_** card, which will destroy all spells and trap cards on your side of the field, including your Happy Marriage card and your Cupid Kiss, relinquishing my monsters from your maiden's spell!"

The maiden's attire returned to normal and her attack returned to its original 400, and while my monsters still had maiden counters on them, they were finally snapping to their senses. _"What was I thinking? I didn't want to get married! I'm a lone fighter." _said Neo. _"I'm outta here!"_ and he ditched the maiden just like that, and Dark Magician followed him and nervously approached his apprentice and true love, gently lifting her chin and their eyes met.

Dark Magician gazed deeply and apologetically at her. _"I… I'm sorry! Will you ever forgive me?"_

Dark Magician Girl smiled and held her hand to his making him gently crease her face. Clover was outraged. "Did you see that? He just up and left that poor maiden all alone and…"

_"ZIP IT!"_ snarled Sam and Alex.

Now that I had all of my monsters together, it was time to end the duel. "You dueled a long way Alexis, and it pains me to do this to you, but I too need to do what I must." And I glared at her Maiden in Love, even though she couldn't be destroyed, that didn't matter as Alexis still would take damage. I ordered all of my monsters to attack the defenseless maiden… their combines attack powers equaled 6200, and against the maiden's measly 400, she didn't stand a chance!

**_FINAL-SCORE:_**

**_Alexis: "0000" VS Mykan: 3800_**

Sam and Alex cheered for me, and Clover, though still feeling a little pity for the maiden, cheered for me too. Two tears of shame rolled down Alexis' cheeks. She rubbed sniffled and wiped them away. "Are you all right, Alexis?" I asked out of concern.

She didn't answer at first but then managed to come out "Yes… I am. I understand now. I may love you, Mykan, but you were right… you are not mine, and I could never really take away the happiness of someone else, not even the princess."

Part of me really hated seeing her like this. "You are still strong, Alexis." I said to her "I only hope someday things will shine brighter for you."

Alexis smiled at me sadly, and nodded.

It was done, and the spies and I prepared to move on, and Alexis planned to leave the island and go out to make her own life… and thought maybe she would happiness with someone who would love and care for her, and she promised never to act how she had at me again.


	11. Rich to Poor

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

With half the gatekeepers beaten, the palace was bound to be closer than ever, but I couldn't help but shake this funny feeling that the longer we delayed, the more disastrous it would be for me and Sabrina of being reunited.

…I was more right than I thought I was. For Sabrina was being told by her father that in the morning he was going to select a suitor for her to marry as she wouldn't stop being so stubborn and rejecting everyone else. "I won't do it!" she said.

"You will even if I have to drag you there!" growled her father.

"Daddy… I don't know what's happened to you, but this rudeness and being a controller must stop!"

Her angry father raised his hand ready to slap her but he stopped at the last second. "That was a warning. Take heed the next time you ever talk back to your father like that again. Now, off to bed with you! I want you up bright and early to meet your new fiancé, and I don't want to hear another peep out of you about it! IS THAT CLEAR?!"

Sabrina felt her heart break in half as tears came to her eyes and she ran off to her room, threw herself over her bed, and cried into her pillow.

…

The spies and I continued on our way, and soon found ourselves at the entrance of a cavern. Yet another one of the many obstacles in our way, but the best way I knew to get even closer to the palace, hopefully without attracting any more attention.

Clover took one smell inside and covered her noise crying "Ew, gross. Do we really have to go through it?"

"You got a better way for us to get through to the palace?" I said gruffly at her. Clover was ultimately forced to surrender and come along with the rest of us, she and the girls used their compacts and I used my necklaces to shine some light ahead.

Alex seemed a little nervous though, but not because of the dark and creepiness of the cave, but rather because she was the only one of us who still hadn't dueled. "What if I mess it up?" she kept saying "I don't want to be the one who'll let everyone down."

"You'll do fine, Alex." said Sam "Remember back in class, you were on fire for most of your duels."

"Yeah, only by cheap luck." said Alex. "If only I had a Red Eyes Black Dragon, things would go a lot smoother for me."

"Now that's nonsense." I said to her. "Remember what I taught you? It's not really based on what kind of cards you have, but how you use them. Just look at who we've faced so far."

"He's got a point, Alex." said Clover "We've beaten three baddies so far, and we beat them because we knew what to do and when to do it."

_"Oh, give me a break!" _called a voice from within the darkness, making the girls jump. _"That has got to be the most pathetic thing about dueling I've ever heard."_

Several torches along the walls of the cave mysteriously lit up in rows of one at a time, and at the end of the tunnel, by a large gate stood a young man with pale skin and he was grinning and snickering sinisterly. The girls gazed at the dude and thought he looked weird with pale skin and black spiky hair. "You have got to be the ugliest thing I have ever seen." remarked Clover.

The guy took that hard. "I'd be careful who you're calling ugly. Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

"Duh…! You're one of those creepy gatekeepers we have to mash." replied Clover.

The guy slapped his brow and groaned in disgust! "Fine, since you're so deluded. You should know me of all people, Mykan Jaden."

My eyes narrowed and I clenched my fists softly. "Well, I guess I should recognize you, Julius Robingold!"

Julius was a former student from Duel Academy, just like me. He came from a very wealthy, but very snobbish family. He was a second year Obelisk Blue, and always getting in everyone's faces, boasting that he was the best at everything, especially dueling, and always went out of his way to belittle students of lower class, and even those of his own, in Obelisk, who weren't from rich families.

Most students who lost to him in matches took it pretty hard, no thanks to all his taunting and bullying, but finally he challenged me… when I was just a Slifer Red. As much as I didn't take kindly to his insults and mockeries, but unlike many, I wouldn't be pushed over by them, and by ignoring him and dueling my best I crushed him in a humiliating defeat, which soured his reputation at school.

From that time on, Julius had sparked a real force of hatred for me and was determined to make me pay for humiliating him like that. Especially seeing as I seem to be the favorite of Princess Sabrina, whom Julius had had eyes for as well, but unlike me, and hearing him boast it out loud, he only seemed to like Sabrina because she was beautiful and rich, which made him just the perfect guy for her… not many took a liking to this behavior of his. Especially Sabrina…

Still, only the top ranking student of the year was allowed to duel her in the special end of the year match. Julius kept dueling and cramming hard, but his hatred as well as his sour reputation always kept blinding him and slowing him down, making him easy to defeat and subjected for demotion back to Ra Yellow, while I on the other hand rose to the top and earned the privilege to duel Sabrina.

My grades, my popularity went up, and I was already promoted to Ra Yellow that year everything I had gained were all the things Julius had craved for but lost. "I finally decided to take you down by other means." Julies said, and he openly admitted that he was the one who wrote Alexis those phony love letters in attempt to get her to help keep me away from Sabrina, for all the good that did.

"I knew it!" I said "I always had a sneaky feeling you were the one behind all that, just like when you took my deck and threw it into the ocean before our midterm duel that year."

The spies gazed, and Julius admitted it. In a last ditch effort to get me horribly humiliated before our duel, which he was promised to be admitted back into Obelisk Blue if he beat me. So he snuck into the Ra Yellow dorm, and supposedly snatched my deck, without even looking at the cards, and tossed them away in the water and they were lost, but the trick was on him.

Not only had been seen by a couple of Slifer Reds who happened to be sitting by the bay at the time and actually saw him throw the cards, but the cards he had thrown away were in fact a spare deck I had been making from various cards I had bought. I had my deck on me the whole time, and was never careless enough to let it out of my sight.

The duel went on as planned, and Julius had lost to me yet again, and not only was he forced to pay me back for the cards he had destroyed; he was expelled from the academy for his heinous actions and scheming by order and request of Sabrina herself when she found out what he had done.

Juilis tried in one more foolish attempt to get on the princess' good side, but he got slapped across the face and she scolded him. "You are not worthy of even my lowest of expectations. You are a bully, a scoundrel, and a cheater. I have no interest in someone as low as you. Not now, not ever!" and she ordered the guards to drag him away and send him on the first ship out.

"I'll never forget that day! I became a worldwide mockery, and even my own family was furious with me, but we vowed to get revenge."

Julius and his family were known for their deviousness in making money in the stock markets, and by Julius competing in duel tournaments just like I did. The family soared higher and richer than ever, but remained just as stubborn, and as snotty as ever. Then one day, just a week ago, he received a call from King Wilhelm, and had been told that he was arranging for Sabrina to be married to someone of great wealth and prestige, and figured he would be the perfect choice.

Something inside me snapped. "Ugh… WHAAAAT…?!" I growled.

"You heard me right. As of tomorrow morning, the king is bringing me up before the princess and our engagement will be official."

"She will never marry you, Julius!"

"Oh, but it's not like she had a choice." protested Julius "And I when I heard of the opportunity to meet up with you again, I took up the chance and became guardian of the caverns and darkness. All I have to do now is get you out of the picture. So get ready, Mykan Jaden it's time to duel!"

"Take him out, Mykan!" hollered Clover.

"Clean his clocks!" added Sam.

"Give it to him!" shouted Alex.

I turned sharply to the girls and said "…No!"

Even Julius was surprised that I refused. "What? You're not chicken, are you?"

I ignored his insult and motioned for Alex to come as it was her turn to duel anyway. "Me?" Alex asked and she began to feel worried. "Trust me, you'll do just fine." I said to her, and I turned to Julius "Alex is your opponent!"

Julius burst out laughing uncontrollably. "You're kidding me right? You don't want to duel me, so you send one of your cheerleaders to duel for you."

Sam and Clover took that offensively, and so did Alex.

"What's the matter, afraid you'll finally lose it?"

"No… just the opposite, Julius." I said to him "I know your dueling style, and I beat you every single time. You'd never be able to beat me, and I'm going to prove it to you by having Alex duel in my place, and I promise you won't beat her either."

Alex tried to protest, but I just smiled proudly at her knowing she wouldn't let me down, and Clover and Sam persuaded her to take Julius on. So, she agreed. "Fine then." said Julius "This shouldn't take too long."

Alex stood ready, and as she loaded her cards into the duel disk, she thought to herself, _"This is it now. I can't afford any mistakes here like did back at college. Mykan's counting me and so are the girls."_

"I'm ready!" she said!

Julius snickered. "Fine…! Just one thing left for me to do, and he stomped his foot into the ground, pressing a secret floor switch, and before Alex could react, a giant chair popped out from under her, forcing her to sit, and she was strapped in by the ankles and waist, but her arms were still free so she could duel. _"ALEX!"_ the rest of us cried out.

"Hey! What's the deal with this creepy chair?" Alex asked. She got her answer when Julius reached into his pocket and pulled out a remote-control box. One touch of a button and flames shot out from little spouts on either side of the chair, scaring her half to death. "One thing you should know about us Robingold's, we're willing to do anything to win, anything at all, including putting you to ultimate test of courage and wit, as well as strength and strategy. If you can't take the heat, then give up!"

The flames continued to flare and Alex shielded her eyes.

"Stop that, right now!" shouted Sam, and Julius clicked the flames off. Alex wiped her brow "Man! Talk about a hothead. It's going to take more than a few fires to keep me down!"

Julius growled and prepared his disk. "All right…! Enough of all this small-talk… let's get down to business."

_"…DUEL!"_

**_Author's notes:_**

**_I thought I may as well share with you all this. When I went to Anime North 2013, I met Alex's voice actress, Katie Griffin, and believe me… she's very nice._**


	12. Dueling with a snob: Part 1

**CHAPTER TWEVLE  
****(Part One)**

The scores were set…

**_SCORE:_**

**_Julius: 8000 VS Alex: 8000_**

"Bring it on! I'm ready for you." Alex called out as she held up her cards.

"Ha! Don't make me laugh. I doubt you have the guts or even the brains to beat what's coming" said Julius. "I'll set a monster face down in defense-mode, and that ends my turn."

"That's it? That's all you're going to play…?" asked Alex "Boy, are you in for it now. I summon **_ARMORED LIZARD_** in attack mode!"

**_(Atk: 1500)_**

"Now I'm going to go get me some! …Attack!"

"Huh! First move and already it's a poor one; **_CASTLE OF DARK ILLUSIONS!"_**

Alex gasped and tried to call off her attack, but it was too late as her lizard smacked face first into the powerful structure and bounced right off of it. "That's what a defense of over 1900 will do for you." said Julius "…And don't forget, you lose life points in the different."

**_(Atk: 1500) VS (Def: 1930)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Julius: 8000 VS Alex: 7570_**

Alex slapped her brow in frustration growling "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

Clover and Sam felt very worried. Just that one move and Alex was already down by a bit. "Calm down, girls." I said "It's only the first move, and anything can happen from here out. Now that Alex has the castle exposed she can find a proper way to beat it."

"I can't believe you made such a bonehead move like that." Julius mocked "If this is how you duel, I won't have to put up much of an effort to beat you… because you'll do it for me."

His laughing and mocking was really getting on Alex's nerves, but she decided not to let it get to her. "I'll throw one card facedown, and that'll do it for me."

"Aw, is that all you can do?" mocked Julius as he drew his next card. "Ha! First I think I'll deal with that facedown card of yours with **_MYSTICAL SPACE TYPHOON!"_**

"No!" cried Alex as her facedown trap-card got destroyed in the blowing winds. "Watch the hair!" she groaned.

"Hair…? Did you say hair?" teased Julius "Well, if you wish…? Come forth, **_THE SNAKE HAIR!"_**

**_(Atk: 1500)_**

The very sight of that ugly zombie and her snake hairs made Clover feel like throwing up. "That is so disgusting!" she groaned. Sam, however, noticed that the monster had the same attack power as Alex's lizard. Alex noticed that too. "As ugly as your monster is, you can't hope to beat my lizard like that."

"You're right, I can't." hissed Julius "That's why I'm going to activate this spell, **_BOOK OF MOON,_** and I'll use it to flip my castle facedown again."

"What, face down again? What for…?"

"Why else? So I can flip it back up again!"

**_(Atk: 920)_**

Alex still didn't understand what the deal was, until Julius ordered his Snake Hair to attack her lizard, destroying it, and Snake Hair survived! "What…?! But… their attacks were equal."

"Wow, you are as smart as you duel… pathetic!" mocked Julius and he explained the reason he flipped his castle back up was to trigger its special ability to raise the attack and defense points of all his zombies by 200, and it would continue to make the strong with each turn. "My Snake Hair was at 1500, but after my castle flipped up it gained 200 more points raising it up to 1700…"

**_(Atk: 1700) VS (Def: 1500)_**

"…You're lizard didn't stand a chance, and your life points don't look so good either!"

**_SCORE:_**

**_Julius: 8000 VS Alex: 7370_**

"…And don't think I'm finished there; Go Castle… attack her directly!"

**_(Atk: 920)_**

The horrid castle fired a big dark magic beam straight at Alex, and she yowled upon getting hit.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Julius: 8000 VS Alex: 6450_**

"Stay strong, Alex!" I called out to her, but Julius continued to mock and laugh at her. "It looks like Mykan was wrong to put all his trust in you. You're getting creamed by all my dark monsters, and you're squirming like the scared little girl you are."

Alex shook awake from the shockwaves of the attack, glared at Julius and said "Says you!"

"What?"

"You know I may have made a couple of mistakes, but you just made a major foul right there, bucko… you just told me what kind of monsters you deal with."

Julius gasped and realized she was right, having blurted out that his deck was full of dark attributed monsters.

"It's only going to make it that much easier for me to crush you now!"

"I don't think so…" growled Julius as he clicked his remote and blazed more flames near Alex. "Don't forget who you face here. I can fry you to a crisp with the touch of a button."

Alex seemed less phased than she was before. "Yeah… blow all the flares you want. I've been in way tougher situations than this."

Julius growled and ended his turn with one card facedown. Clover and Sam felt Alex was going a bit rough, egging Julius on like that, and cautioned her to take it easy. _"Take it easy…? I don't see them strapped in a chair with fire all around. I've got to figure out how to take this guy out, but none of my monsters are strong enough. I guess I'll have to play it safe."_

She merely placed a monster in defense mode, "And I'll place another card facedown too."

"So, first you foolishly attack me, and now you defend yourself? You must be desperate as you are dumb." mocked Julius as he drew his next card, but Alex demanded he just make his move. "Eagar to lose are we? Well, fine then… the sooner I'm done with you, the sooner I can get Mykan out of the way, and then nothing will stop me from taking the princess, Sabrina, as mine!"

The more he talked about Sabrina like that, the more vexed I became, but I did my best to keep my cool so Alex could concentrate.

First, at the start of Julius' turn, the castle powered up his Snake Hair even more, raising her to 1900 attack points. "First, I'll play **_POT OF GREED_**, so I can draw two cards, and then I'll change my castle into defense-mode."

**_(Def: 1930)_**

"Now I think I'll summon a new monster **_DRAGON ZOMBIE!"_**

**_(Atk: 1600)_**

"Now I'll have him attack that monster of yours." Alex's monster flipped up revealed to be a **_SPIRIT OF THE HARP, _**with a defense of 2000. "Well, well… look who's made the big mistake now." Alex gloated.

Julius snickered "Not me, my attack's not done yet, and I activate my quick-play spell… **_RUSH RECKLESSLY _**and it'll boost my attack up by 700!"

"Ah!" gasped Alex as she saw Dragon Zombie's attack go straight up to 2300, destroying her monster successfully. "And now that that's done, Snake Hair attacks you directly… Go!"

"Ha! Not this time, I activate my trap, **_SAKURETSU ARMOR!"_**

Julius gasped, and the rest of us gazed with delight, for that trap destroyed Snake Hair the minute she attacked, sparing Alex's life points. "You get so cocky with your boasting, and bragging, you don't seem to realize that everyone can be just as sneaky as you can."

She gazed at me, and I nodded at her showing my pride in her for making an excellent move, but Julius felt outraged. "Shut up!" he growled "I let you have that attack." He was obviously lying in a feeble attempt to hide his embarrassment. _"Just you wait, girl! When you least expect it, I'm going to make you pay for humiliating me like this!"_ he thought quietly.

Alex drew her card, and liked what it was. "I summon **_AXE RAIDER!"_**

**_(Atk: 1700)_**

"Chop that Dragon Zombie to pieces!"

**_(Atk: 1700) VS (Atk: 1600)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Julius: 7900 VS Alex: 6450_**

Julius growled softly. Now he only had his castle left. He drew his next card, but it wasn't very useful to him yet. "I'll place this card face down, and end my turn."

Alex felt maybe if Julius was finally starting to lose it as she drew her next card. "Ah, yeah, everything's turning up for me. I summon **_DARKFIRE SOLDIER #2!"_**

**_(Atk: 1700)_**

"And I'll also add this to him as well. **_BLACK PENDANT _**and it boosts his attack up by 500!**_"_**

**_(Atk: 1700) Becomes (Atk: 2200)_**

"All right, Soldier, ten-hut and smash that castle out of the sky!" Alex ordered, and with her supped-up monster, the castle crumpled into rubble all around Julius, who shielded his head form the shockwaves and holographic dust. Now he was left wide open and Alex ordered her Axe Raider to make a direct attack, striking him hard.

**_(Atk: 1700) _**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Julius: 6200 VS Alex: 6450_**

Sam and Clover cheered for Alex, now that she had taken the lead, but the duel was still far from over, and it was Julius' turn. "I'll show you who's in the lead." He grumbled as he drew his next card. _"Ha! Just what I needed, a dark monster like no other…!" _he sinisterly thought to himself _"And I have just the move to get it out here right now."_

"First up, I'm playing **_GRACEFUL CHARITY._** So I draw three cards, and discard two, and now… get ready to plunge deeper into the dark. I activate my trap card, **_CALL OF THE HAUNTED, _**and it lets me revive one monster in my graveyard back to the field in attack mode."

The ground began to rumble and tremble, holographic of course. "What's going on?" cried Alex. Julius snickered wickedly, and then a huge monster burst through the ground in front of the trap and took flight, snarling and roaring at Alex. "And there is it… **_SERPENT NIGHT DRAGON…!"_** shouted Julius.

**_(Atk: 2350)_**

Alex gazed up at the fierce looking dragon, trembling slightly, and Julius decided to scare her more by blazing the flames at her again. "Julius, that's enough!" I shouted at him. He stopped the flames. "No, it's not enough yet. It's time for the payback to begin." And he ordered his dragon to attack Alex's Darkfire Soldier.

**_(Atk: 2350) VS (Atk: 2200)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Julius: 6200 VS Alex: 6300_**

"Don't forget…" hollered Alex "When you destroy the Black Pendant, you take 500 points of damage!"

**_SCORE:_**

**_Julius: 5700 VS Alex: 6300_**

"Oh, I'm so hurt. That's not nearly a thing compared to what's going to happen with you. As long as I have my Serpent Knight Dragon out, your monsters are as good as toast. Which is what you'll soon be, and so will Mykan!"

"Don't listen to him, Alex." I said "You still have the lead, and my faith. I know you can pull through this."

Alex was glad I gave her the pep talk, but it still didn't help her much. Nothing she had at all would help her tear down that powerful dragon. "I'll have to play it safe. I switch Axe Raider to defense-mode!"

**_(Def: 1150)_**

Julius drew his next card and scoffed "Even your little defenses won't save you this time. I summon **_RYU-KISHIN POWERED!"_**

**_(Atk: 1600)_**

Alex gasped and realized what an error she had made. "Maybe I should've left him in attack mode!"

"Too little, too late." mocked Julius and he ordered his new monster to attack and destroy Axe Raider, which it did. "Now that the road is clear… Go, Serpent Night Dragon! Attack her directly!"

Alex felt the full force of the attack blast her with shockwaves and winds, and she lost 2350 just like that.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Julius: 5700 VS Alex: 3950_**

"No! Alex!" cried Clover.

"Hang in there!" added Sam.

"Oh, stop your babbling!" snapped Julius. "Your friend is as good as done. With my dragon above and my Ryu-Kishin down here, nothing's going to stop me now. Do you hear me?!"

Alex hated to admit, but Julius had a point. She still hadn't anything strong enough to play, and she wasn't sure how to attack that big and powerful dragon in the air.

_"Come on, Alex…"_ I said in thought _"You're overlooking just one thing that can help you make a comeback."_

Alex continued to gaze at the field, and then she drew her card. At first, she didn't feel it would be of much help to her, until she looked at the field again, and realized something about Serpent Night Dragon, and how it was on the field because of Call of the Haunted! _"That's it!" _she thought quietly _"I've been going about this all wrong. Instead of attacking that dragon itself, I just need to wipe out its power source."_

"Are you going to move, or what?!" snarled Julius, and Alex quietly laid her drawn card facedown. "I'll throw a monster in defense mode as well."

Julius drew his next card. "What? No shivering, no tears of fear? Shouldn't you be begging for mercy right about now?"

Alex merely said in her seat with her arms folded. "You know I'm getting really sick and tired of the sound of your voice." she growled.

"Say what?!" Julius began to feel his temper rising.

"All you've been doing so far is yakking that your this oh, so awesome guy and the world should just bow down to your toes and kiss them for you. Well, that's what people like me are here for, and like Mykan too- to show you up for the loudmouth talking trash pile you really are."

Julius stuttered and stammered and finally managed to gather his words "Nobody… calls me TRASH!" and he grabbed his remote and turned the fire up full blast. The flames blasted at Alex barely missing her. "Whoa!" cried Clover as she could barely bring herself out of the fear she felt. "Alex really shook him up there." said Sam

Julius was panting angrily. He really did not like being insulted in such a manner. "Nobody… Nobody insults Julius Robingold and gets away with it!" he thundered. He gazed up and looked at Alex smirking at him and continuing to goad him. "Ah! I'm going to wipe that grin off your face. Ryu-Kishin Powered, attack!"

Alex's facedown monster was a simple **_BATTLE WARRIOR,_** easily destroyed. "And now, Serpent Night Dragon, make her suffer for insulting me. Attack her with all you've got!"

The giant dragon powered leaned forward and opened its mouth ready to strike Alex down. If she couldn't stop it… she would be finished!

**_To Be Continued…!_**


	13. Dueling with a snob: Part 2

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN  
****(Part Two)**

The dragon fired power straight at Alex…

"Now…!" Alex suddenly snapped, and she quickly activated a card, and just as the dragon opened its big mouth ready to attack, it began to glow. "What's happening?" growled Julius "I said attack!" but the dragon only glowed brighter, and then shattered to pieces. He couldn't understand it, and neither could Sam and Clover, until everyone gazed over at Alex and saw a strange creature standing before her, cackling maliciously and holding a Mystical Space Typhoon card. "A **_GRAVEROBBER _**trap card…?! Julius snarled.

"Ha!" scoffed Alex "You were so busy whining over my insult and finishing me off, you forgot that I put a trap on the field. While you were busy calling your attack, I had this little guy sneak into your graveyard and nab your Mystical Space Typhoon, and used it to destroy Call of the Haunted. No trap, no dragon!"

Julius couldn't believe he had let himself fall for such a trick. "Don't forget…" he growled "You still have to pay 2000 life points for using that card!"

**_SCORE:_**

**_Julius: 5700 VS Alex: 1950_**

Alex didn't seem to mind, and neither did the rest of us, for it all seemed like a clear stretch for Alex now, and it was her turn.

She drew a card. "Well, this could help. **_POT OF GREED_**, so I get two more cards." The three cards she held after which really made her smile. "Now it's my turn to play a powerful dragon of my own, and it starts with **_POLYMERIZATION! _**Now I fuse together form my hand… **_BABY DRAGON_** and **_TIME WIZARD… _**and I present for your viewing pleasure **_THOUSAND DRAGON!"_**

**_(Atk: 2400)_**

Julius was quivering in his boots, while the rest of us smiled uncontrollably. That was by far the strongest monster in Alex's deck, and really something for Julius to worry about. "Go, Thousand Dragon!" shouted Alex, and her dragon attacked and destroyed Ryu-Kishin.

**_(Atk: 2400) VS (Atk: 1600)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Julius: 4900 VS Alex: 1950_**

Now Julius was wide open, though Alex's hand was totally emptied, and Julius just drew a sixth card, but at the moment, he had nothing to combat Alex's dragon. So he just a monster in defense mode, and ended his turn, allowing Alex to draw one card on her turn and wipe out the monster just summoned, and then again a second time.

"All right!" cried Alex "I'm dueling way at the top now."

"You go girl!" said Clover.

"And the best part is, since you took out his best monster, Julius can't do much about it now." added Sam, but Julius laughed at that that statement. "Whoever said Serpent Night Dragon was my most powerful creature of all?"

We all had a change of expression on our faces, and Julius drew his next card, and he grinned at it wickedly. "My supreme dark monster is a dragon, but of a different sort, and now you're about to see it for yourself."

Alex felt a drop of sweat roll down her face…

"First off, I activate the spell card **_THE CHEERFUL COFFIN, _**and it lets me discard up to three monsters from my hand to the graveyard." he just as he said and for a very good reason… "Now I can activate **_MONSTER REBORN_** to revive that very dragon into play. Now, behold the power of my true most powerful monster… **_RED EYES BLACK DRAGON!"_**

Alex gasped in shock when she heard those words "...Red Eyes?!" The rest of us gasped in shock as well, and in a bright blaze of light, the powerful dragon appeared!

**_(Atk: 2400)_**

Alex gazed up at it almost unable to breathe or blink her eyes. "There it is…" she muttered "I can't believe it…!" she had almost totally forgotten that it was against her, but both it and her Thousand Dragon had equal attack points, but Julius was still prepared with the remaining cards he had in his hand. "Since you like gazing at my Red Eyes so much, get a gaze at this, **_DRAGON NAILS!"_**

A pair of shiny gauntlets appeared on the dragon's claws, and its attack power went up by 600, raising it all the way to 3000! "Ah! It's even stronger than my Thousand Dragon!" cried Alex. "No joke… this is what you get when you challenge a Robingold. Go, Red Eyes… blow that dragon to ashes!"

**_(Atk: 3000) VS (Atk: 2400)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Julius: 4900 VS Alex: 1350_**

"No, way…! That was my best card!" cried Alex. Now things were looking bleak for her. She had no monsters, no other cards and very little options left. Sam, Clover, and I could feel the tension. "I hate to say this, but even I can't figure a way out of this one." said Sam.

"As if our problems couldn't get any worse, Sammy!" cried Clover.

"Don't give up, Alex." I called to her "You can still win this match, just believe you can and keep fighting."

"Be quiet!" shouted Julius "I've had just enough of your chattering over there. She's finished, beaten, soon to be outcast like the loser she is, and you all will follow her."

"That is not going to happen!" I protested. "You won't win this duel, and you'll never get Sabrina either. Alex won't let that happen."

"Yeah right!" scoffed Julius "You guys have sunk so low, it's as subterranean as this cave. In fact… since you're so not going to win this match I'll even make a bet on it."

"Huh? A bet…?" Alex asked with interest. "That's right… and here's the bet: If you can actually beat me… which we both know you won't, not only will I let you guys off the hook, I'll even give you my Red Eyes Black Dragon card for free."

Alex felt her heart leap with a sensation of feelings, and mind running in circles, but she couldn't understand why he would do such a thing. "It's just a Robingold thing." He said "We often make easy going bets. One that we know we can't lose it. Think of it as a win-win scenario."

Sam and Clover thought that was a dirty, underhanded, sleazy trick. "That's just how Julius and his family behave." I told them.

Alex had thought it over and she said "…Deal!"

"What did you say?!" snapped Julius.

"A chance to finally gain the card I've always wanted, I'd be stupid enough not to accept. Especially seeing as there is still one way I can win this."

"You lie! You can't win!"

"We'll just see about that…" Alex placed her hand over her deck hoping for the best and drew her card. "Yeah…! That's what I'm talking about! This card worked for you, and now I'm going to use it; **_MONSTER REBORN! _**So, welcome back, Thousand Dragon!"

"What can you possibly do with that overgrown lizard? It's too weak to stop my Red-Eyes."

"Who said I was done?" snapped Alex "I also summon this bad boy- check out the **_COPYCAT!"_**

**_(Atk: 0)_**

"Huh? What's a Copycat do?"

Alex snickered softly and explained that it could take the attack and defense points of any opposing monster as its original points. "In other words, now my monster gains the attack power of your Red Eyes."

**_(Atk: 2400)_**

"And now, get ready, because here comes my last card; **_DE-FUSION!"_**

"What do you think you're doing?!" growled Julius. _"I think I know what Alex is up to."_ I thought quietly. Thanks to her De-Fusion, Thousand Dragon was split back up into the two monsters she made it from…

**_BABY DRAGON… (Atk: 1200)_**

**_TIME WIZARD… (Atk: 500)_**

Alex hated what she was doing more than she liked it, but figured it was the only possible way to really end the duel. "Sometimes you just got to trust in luck." She was planning to invoke her Time Wizard's special ability. Normally on tabletop duels, players would just toss a coin, but when using duel disks and holographic images, the Time Wizard's roulette spin would decide the outcome.

"Mykan… what's going on?" asked Clover.

I explained to them that if the Time Wizard's spin would stop on one of the two red time-machines on the wheel, then all of Julius' monsters would be destroyed and then half their attack powers would be deducted from his life points… but if the arrow landed on any one of the four white skulls, then all of Alex's monsters would be destroyed and she'd take the damage and lose the duel instantly.

Clover and Sam gasped. "This is nuts!" cried Sam "The whole fate of this duel is left on the outcome of a single spin of a wheel?"

"I'm afraid so." I said "All we can do now is hope that spin doesn't stop on a skull."

"Well let's start hoping then!" cried Clover.

Julius was actually trembling in worry knowing whoever lost this spin would lose it all. Alex was aware of this too, but she had no choice. "Go Time Roulette!" and the arrow began to spin across the dial. It went faster, and faster and just kept on spinning, and suddenly it began to slow down.

"It's stopping!" cried Clover.

Everyone's insides were going crazy with nerves as the arrow went slower, and slower. It looked as if it was about to land on a skull, much to Julius delight and our horrors, but suddenly, it flicked to the red time machine and stopped! "Yeah!" cried Alex.

"No!" shouted Julius as we all watched the Time Wizard poise his staff and fire his time magic at the Red-Eyes, vaporizing it to dust. "My Red-Eyes…! My beautiful Red Eyes!"

**_SCORE:_**

**_Julius: 3400 VS Alex: 1350_**

"But wait… I'm not through with you yet pal. Copycat… Baby Dragon; wipe him out!"

"No, wait!" cried Julius, but the two monsters already struck him hard, and their combined attack powers totaled 3600!

**_FINAL-SCORE:_**

**_Julius: "0000" VS Alex: 1350_**

"YEAH…!" Alex yelled for joy.

Clover and Sam hugged each other and leapt for joy. "Way to go, Alex!" I hollered at her "I knew you wouldn't let me down."

Julius wasn't taking it so well. He was almost having a panic attack. "Nobody… Nobody beats a Robingold!" He had never been so humiliated in a long time.

"Hey, Julius…!" Alex called to him "I won! Now let me out of this chair and then hand over your Red-Eyes Black Dragon, just like we agreed!"

Julius angrily looked up. "Forget it!" he shouted.

"Hey!" snapped Alex "We agreed!"

"I said, FORGET IT!" he shouted "No one beats Julius Robingold, and I plan to keep it that way! I may not have beaten you in a duel, BUT I CAN STILL BEAT YOU!" he grabbed his remote and crazily worked the controls "FIRE…! LOTS OF FIRE…!"

The flame-shooters began to spin and point directly at Alex, and she still couldn't get out of the chair and she had no WOOHP gadgets. "ALEX!" cried Clover and Sam.

"SAY GOODBYE!" shouted Julius as he hit the switch "FIRE…!"

"ALEX…!" I shouted as I leapt out in front of her as the flames shot at us, and my necklace began to glow. "MYKAN!" screamed the girls.

The flames were so hot and bright that everyone shielded their eyes, and finally the shooters ran all out of fuel, and when the smoke had cleared and everyone gazed at us both Alex and I were perfectly fine. "What?!" snapped Julius, and he dropped his remote. "You survived? How can this be?"

I stepped forward glaring angrily at him. "My millennium necklace protects me from your attack, and now, Julius, I think it's time somebody taught you a lesson."

Julius had officially lost every ounce of courage he had and ran down the tunnel, but I dashed after him and left the girls to get Alex out of the chair.

Julius ran cowardly down the tunnel, but he was so shaking up from the duel that he couldn't keep going, and I caught up with him, and was about to show off another power of my necklace. Like all the millennium items, I was able to fire small projectiles from the necklace right at Julius. First I blasted his duel disk off his arm, and then blasted his dueling deck pack off of his belt and his cards scattered everywhere. Then, it was personal…

I leapt over and shoved him into the wall. He swung at me, but missed, and I punched him back, and kneed him in the gut. I then grabbed him by the arm and slipped him out of his jacket and whipped him clear across his face, and knocking him to the floor. I leapt over to him and was about to punch him again, but stopped at the last second figuring I had gotten through to him. Instead I learn forward and spoke ever so deeply and sternly. "You're a disgrace as a duelist! You always have been, and always will be! If I ever… ever see you, of hear of you pulling out tricks like this again… I promise you… I won't be so merciful the next time! Do you understand…?"

Julius nodded frightfully and he stumbled about as he got onto his feet and cowardly ran away like a scared little puppy running right past the spies on the way. "You didn't have to be so cruel." Sam said.

"Yeah, it wouldn't have been as satisfying. Right, Mykan?" said Alex, and I agreed it had to be done, and Julius needed to learn how it felt to be inflicted with pain and bullying.

Before we headed off, we searched through Julius' cards and Alex found it. "The Red Eyes Black Dragon…! It's finally mine!" She one it fair and square and it was her right to take it.

Alex clutched the card softly, almost as if she were smothering a stuffed animal. It was a real victory for her to be proud of, especially because we were getting closer to the palace. It wouldn't be long now.

**_Author's notes:_**

**_Time Wizard's effect was fudged up there. I used its Anime Effect, because I only just recently found out that it would really only destroy Julius' monster, but not hurt his score... there was no other way Alex could have won._**

**_Sometimes to make duels work I have to use their anime effects_**


	14. Daze in a Maze

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

Now, you can bet that King Wilhelm was very surprised and furious when he discovered that Julius had not only been defeated, but he fled from the island in fear, which really put a damper on his arrangement with Sabrina. "Never mind then! We'll just find someone else to marry her off to." he huffed. "In the meantime, it's time to take more drastic actions."

He got on the phone and called up someone important and warned them that I and my team were obviously on the way. "You know what to do with them."

…

The girls and I continued to walk along the cavern; Alex couldn't stop staring at her new Red Eyes Black Dragon card and thinking of the bold new possibilities her deck would have with it. She was so lost in her daydreams that she bumped into a stone wall. "Ow…! Hey! Talk about a mood killer."

"Try to keep up with us Alex." said Sam.

"Speak for yourself." groaned Clover "It feels like we've been walking down here forever. My feet are totally killing me."

We all got a good look at the walls, and all the stones seemed to be neatly arranged, and there were corridors and many different ways to go. "I think I know where we are?" I said "This is the underground labyrinth. It was one of our many security measures."

If unsuspecting intruders were caught and fell into the maze, they would wind up wandering around for a long time and get tired from exhaustion or hunger making it easier for guards to come in and capture them.

I knew all this because I was part of the project team designing this. The idea was inspired by a card called **_LABYRINTH WALL, _**a card best used for defense. "Then you should know the way out of here." Alex said with hope, but sadly I didn't recognize many things "The maze must've been remodeled and changed while I was away for a year. I can't tell one way from the other."

We tried going down one way, and then another, and several more, but it just felt as if we were going around in circles, and I still couldn't use the necklace to look into the future or past to figure it out with Wilhelm blocking me out with his millennium eye. So we had no choice but to just keep on going until we would hopefully find a way out.

After a while of running about, we could see a light up ahead at the end of the tunnel and it defiantly wasn't the way we had come in. We then found ourselves in a strange chamber, with Chinese markings all around and a strange dueling arena in the center of the room. "What is this place?" asked Alex. "I'm not sure. I've never seen this before." I replied.

"One thing's for sure, they defiantly need to update on fashion sense." said Clover.

Suddenly, the opening we came through sealed tight as a stone wall slammed down, making us jump. "We're stuck!" cried Sam.

Then we could hear the soft sound of two men sniggering softly, followed by each of the speaking in verse…

"You have entered a sacred ground,

where only duelists can be found."

"Before you pass across this chamber,

You must agree to face the danger."

That's when we saw them, two bald twin men leaping and flipping across the room practicing Kung Fu moves, and landing perfectly on their feet before us and glaring at us sinisterly, they said to us…

"So let the contest now begin."

"Notify your next of kin."

"We have you sealed in…

"With heavy stone locks…"

The two men did posing dances before us and stated together _"…You face the brothers, Paradox!"_

"Employed by the king as gatekeepers…

"Our job is to keep out you unwanted creepers."

"And if by some fluke, you manage to win..."

"Then a puzzling new test shall begin."

"For over my shoulder, you see a door."

"And over mine you will see one door more."

"The test is a choice…"

"Which you must make"

_"Which of these doors will you take?"_

"One door leads to a blinding maze,

which you will wander in for days."

"The other path is the one you need.

Choose correctly and be freed."

"But which door leads out, and which leads to woe?"

"That's for you to guess, and for us to know."

Clover felt like her head was going to explode. "Can you two slow down and cut the rhyming? I can barely figure this out now!" she groaned. The rest of us had put it all together. These were the last two gatekeepers, and just like they said, we'd have to beat them, and then choose a door. "Wait…!" said Sam "So even if one of us beats you guys in a duel, we still might be stuck down here?"

The brothers grinned wickedly…

"Against us, one mere duelist we would cream." said Para

"So you must duel us as a tag-team." rhymed Dox.

A two-on-two match- that did make things a little easier as it meant this would be our last trial with the gatekeepers, if we could beat them. I stepped forward being the obvious choice of being one of the players to take the challenge. "All right, a tag-team duel it." I turned to face Alex "Would you duel by my side, Alex?"

Alex nodded. "You bet."

Clover and Sam cheered us on. The brothers grinned wickedly at one another and guided me and Alex to our stands. The dueling field we were playing on wouldn't be like normal duels we usually faced. There was going to be a certain set of new rules for this match. "Great, that's all I need; new rules." Alex muttered.

Even I wasn't sure about these new rules. I had played in tag duels before, but never one like this. So far, we each took our positions at each of the four corners of a large square field, and in the center was a tile board consisting of chees board like squares measuring nine squares by nine, and plugged our duel disks into the simulation. Down on the stands before each of us was a small computerized touch screen showing all eighty-one squares, but this didn't help us figure out what was going to happen, but Alex and I were ready to duel our best. "If we win this, Alex… we'll finally be able to make it to the palace." I said to her.

She nodded at me, but the brothers thought differently.

"We can see that your spirits are very high." said Para.

"But after this game, your spirits shall die!" rhymed Dox.

They then activated a switch, at their respective stands, and the field began glowing. "What's going on?" asked Alex. We all got our answer when large connecting walls appeared across the squares forming a giant maze.

The brothers explained it was all part of their new experimental dueling system- a labyrinth duel and they each began to explain the rules and how they were different form normal dueling.

To start off, each duelist began with a score of 4000 life points instead of 8000, and the duel would not end until both players on either team were knocked out. As for the rotation of turns, first would be me, then over to Para, then Alex, and then Dox.

As for the actual gameplay, it too was simple. Monsters could not attack players directly until they navigated successfully through the maze and made it out on the other side. To do this, the monster themselves would act like pieces on a game board. Each creature could move up to a number of spaces for each star in its level, but only if they monster were to remain in attack mode. Defending monsters couldn't move, and certain monsters weren't allowed to enter the maze at all.

Since it was a tag duel that meant that both players could control each other's monsters or even defend one another if such was possible.

Also, in conjunction with these new rules, stronger monsters were allowed to be played instantly without making tributes, and certain cards would have certain new properties and effects within the maze itself, but the brothers wouldn't tell us anymore.

"Finally, when you manage to overcome the maze and its dangers, your reward will be a choice of two doors." said Para.

His brother nodded and said… in verse…

"Choose right to find freedom and fresh air.

Choose wrong, and you'll find only despair."

Alex felt like pulling her hair out in frustration. All their rhyming was really starting to get on her nerves. "Would you two give it a rest and start making some clearer sense for once?!" she growled.

The brothers snickered and decided to give us each pity. "Very well, we will give you a clue. Perhaps it will help you along the ways."

"While everything one of us says is true,

The other will speak only lies to you.

His brother nodded.

"Make up your choice, and then take a guess

Which of us is true, and which is dishonest"

The girls and I thought that to be odd, having one truth teller and one liar. "I find that difficult to trust." I said "What if you're lying to me right now?"

"No! I never lie!" snapped Dox

"He speaks lies, for truth is from I." rhymed Para.

"Choose my door and you will be freed."

"No, my path is correct if you'll only heed."

Steam was shooting through Clover and Alex's ears. "Ya know, your rhymes are really getting to be a pain?!" roared Clover.

"Tell me about it." added Alex "They're both killing my brain!" Then she and Clover realized they both had just rhymed. _"Gahh…! Now they're getting to us!"_ they shouted.

Sam paid no attention as she was trying to figure out the two brothers, and she suddenly felt she had an answer. "This all sounds like a riddle I solved once."

She explained that as a girl, she loved doing junior-jumbles in newspapers, it helped her get smart, and one time she got stuck a complicated riddle, and it went like this…

_A small boy comes to a fork in the road and is faced with two identical paths. The boy wishes to get to visit the town where everyone tells the truth, but there is also a village of liars nearby and he doesn't wish to go there, but he can't figure which road leads where. Luckily, a villager from one of the two towns happens to be there, but boy doesn't know which village he is from. Is he a truthful man, or dishonest? The villager then explains that he will allow the boy to answer one question, which was actually the riddle… _

_"What question should the boy ask?"_

"Um, Sammy… what's that got to do with anything here?" asked Clover.

"Just hear me out…" Sam insisted. "I spent days trying to come up with an answer, and then suddenly it hit me…"

She went explaining that…

_…if the boy could only ask the villager one question, then the obvious thing to ask would be for the villager to take the boy to _his own village_. That way a truthful man would lead the boy where he wanted to go, and the liar wouldn't take him to his own village, exactly what boy would want as well._

"And when I got the paper the next week, my answer was right." said Sam.

Alex and Clover felt their eyes light up with hope, and Alex realized "So, if we want to figure out which door leads to where, all we have to do is figure out who lies and who doesn't."

The brothers snickered. "You are very wise to figure that out. Therefore we shall each allow the both of you to ask us one question." said Para.

"All right…" Alex said feeling confident. "So just like the kind in the riddle asked… Which one of you is guarding the door that leads out of here?" and as she and the girls expected. Dox pointed to his own door, and Para pointed to it as well. This led the guards to think that Dox was honest and Para wasn't, and that they had solved the riddle.

…but I wasn't so sure… for that all seemed too easy to me, and I had a sneaky suspicion that the path wasn't as clear as we thought. "Hey, Mykan… are you okay?" Alex asked "Come on, speak up already."

I looked across at her and said "Sorry, Alex… but I don't we've solved this at all. In fact we may have just gone further downhill."

The girls gazed at me with concern and Sam tried to insist that she took the riddle herself and got it right. "Yes, I agree, Sam, but you seem to be overlooking some key differences that really mess things up here." I explained…

In Sam's version of the riddle, the boy had only one person to question at the crossroads, but Alex and I were faced with two; Para and Dox. Exactly as the riddle said as the brother had stated, one speaks the truth and the other is a liar.

"Yeah, so…?" asked Alex.

"Well don't you see the big problem here?" I said "If they really are one liar, and one honest person, then the liar can never admit he's dishonest or he would be telling the truth."

The girls each began to realize where I was getting at… "The only way they could keep up a trick like this would be if they were both lying! So we can't trust either of the brothers or their riddles."

Even Sam felt outsmarted, and she could barely figure this out either.

"Wow!" cried Alex "So what do we do now?"

I turned and grinned at her suggesting we begin the duel and work on the riddle later. Alex agreed, and the duel was ready to begin!


	15. Double Trouble: Part 1

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN  
****(Part One)**

The two way score was set…

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 4000 & Alex: 4000_**

**_VS_**

**_Para: 4000 & Dox: 4000_**

The brothers snickered and chanted…

_"On the labyrinth field, we rule.  
__Now it is time… Begin the duel!"_

Clover and Sam cheered Alex and me on from behind, and I held up my first cards ready to make my first move. "I summon the mighty **_SILVER FANG!"_**

**_(Atk: 1200)_**

"He has three stars in his level, so I'll advance him three spaces forward."

My wolf growled and dashed ahead heading into the maze. I ended my turn right then, and the brothers laughed at me. "You lead your wolf into our maze." hissed Dox

"And now it has seen the last of its days." rhymed Para. Alex and I didn't understand. "Allow me to show you then." said Para "Remember when we said that certain monsters have certain new rules in the maze. Then prepare to have a taste of just that." He held his card and waved it about shouting like a Kung Fu fighter. "My first move is **_LABYRINTH WALL!"_**

**_(Atk: 0)_**

Alex was confused. She hadn't forgotten that strong monsters could be summoned with ease now, but the fact that he played a card with no attack power. "What do think you're doing playing that?" she asked.

Para snickered "You will soon find out, for I now equip my wall with **_MAGICAL LABYRINTH! _**Why I do this you might ask… because I now plan to sacrifice my wall, in order to unleash the true power of my spell allowing me to summon form my deck **_WALL SHADOW!"_**

**_(Atk: 1600)_**

The monster appeared, and Alex felt like gaging. "That has got to be the ugliest thing I've ever seen." she groaned. The brothers snickered and assured her she wouldn't have to look at it much longer, for we all watched as the monster slipped into the walls. "Wall Shadow, attack Silver Fang!" Para shouted, and in a blinding speed, the shadow crept along the maze walls and popped right out before my wolf, and slashed it to pieces. I could hardly believe it…!

**_(Atk: 1600) VS (Atk: 1200)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 3600 & Alex: 4000_**

**_VS_**

**_Para: 4000 & Dox: 4000_**

Then we saw the monster disappear back into the wall where we couldn't get at it. "Hey! They totally cheated!" snarled Clover "That thing moved too many spaces." But the brothers insisted it was all part of the new rules. "The Wall Shadow, when played in a labyrinth arena, it is able to slip through and move along the walls." said Para

"That's right…" added Dox. "…And the wall has no spaces at all. So our monster is free to strike whenever my brother wishes."

Alex growled and could hardly believe all these cheap new rules, but she gazed over at me and knew I was really counting on her, and she wasn't about to let me down. "My turn and I summon **_AXE RAIDER!"_**

**_(Atk: 1700)_**

"But since I can't see where your creepy night crawler is, I can't really attack it. So I'll keep my monster where he is, but I'll also place one other card facedown."

I commended Alex for making a wise move, keeping her Axe Raider away from the maze would keep it safe. "It is my turn now…" said Dox "I shall place one card facedown."

He had sneakily seat a trap in the maze, as also part of the new rules. Now, somewhere, there was a single space with a skull-mark on it, and any opposing monster that stepped on it would fall right into the trap. "Now I will summon forth the **_BEAST OF TALWAR!"_**

**_(Atk: 2400)_**

Dox ordered his new monster to move seven spaces into the maze. "Excellent move, my brother." said Para. "This shall really make them worry."

Dox turned and nodded at him. "Thank you, brother."

Now it was my turn again. I drew my card, and I gazed over at Alex. She gazed right back at me as if she were telling me to go ahead. I nodded at her…

"I summon **_MAIDEN OF THE MOONLIGHT!"_**

**_(Atk: 1500)_**

"Advance four spaces into the maze."

Sam and Clover thought I had made a bad move as my monster's attack was lower than Wall Shadows. Para noticed this as well "You obviously did not learn from what I had showed you before. Wall Shadow, attack now…!" The dark shadow slipped across the walls and popped out before my maiden. "Your maiden is as good as finished!"

My lips curled into a cheeky smirk and I said "I don't think so. Maiden, counter attack!"

"What?!" snapped Para, and much to his confusion and horror, my maiden destroyed Wall Shadow perfectly without taking any damage. "But… how did you… this is not possible?"

"Oh, it's possible…" said Alex "The card I played was a trap; **_REINFORCMENTS!_** Just before you attacked I gave it to Mykan's maiden, which boosted her attack by 500 points, all the way up to 2000!"

**_(Atk: 1600) VS (Atk: 2000)_**

"Mm… No!" cried Para.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 3600 & Alex: 4000_**

**_VS_**

**_Para: 3600 & Dox: 4000_**

Alex and I smiled at each other, and Clover and Sam cheered for our victory, and for evening the score.

"We must admit that was very clever." said Para.

"But this duel you won't win, not now, not ever!" rhymed Dox.

Alex drew her next card, and figured she'd help me strengthen up our forces. "I summon **_DARKFIRE SOLDIER #2"_**

**_(Atk: 1700)_**

Using the touch-screen on her stand before her, Alex moved both her monsters four spaces ahead to join up with my maiden. "Let's see you take on our team now."

"It matter not if your forces are many!" said Para

"For very soon… there won't be any." Dox rhymed as he drew his next card and ordered his Beast to advance another seven spaces. "Even with all your monsters banding together, once my beast is within range they will not stand a chance, but for now I lay this monster in defense-mode."

"And do not forget, there is another surprise waiting for you somewhere else in the maze." added Para.

The spies were growing really tired of the brothers and their yakking, but for now it was my move, and I had just the move after I drew my card. "I lay two cards facedown, and summon **_DARK MAGICIAN!"_**

**_(Atk: 2500)_**

"And I'll move him five spaces ahead to lead and defend our group of monsters."

The girls and I all felt really confident now that our monsters would succeed against anything the brothers would throw at me and Alex. The brothers didn't seem to care much about our playing skills and Para drew his next card, and he grinned wickedly at what it was and gazed over at his brother. "I shall place this monster in defensive mode."

"What do you think it is, Mykan?" asked Alex.

"I'm not sure." I answered, but Para was thinking quietly to him _"The card I have just laid is one part of three parts that make up our deadliest weapon. The two remaining parts res within my brother's deck, and once we have all of them out, nothing shall stop us from achieving victory."_

He ended his turn, and it was Alex's move. She drew her card, but didn't like how Para just played so slyly on his last turn. "I better help get our monsters to the end of the maze before things get any worse." she decided "Okay Axe Raider, onward you go."

As Alex's monster stepped forward four spaces, I gazed on ahead at the third space and saw a skull marking on the square! "Alex, look out!" I shouted, but her Axe Raider already stepped on the space. "Too late, my trap activates!" shouted Dox. Then we all saw Alex's Axe Raider fall through a hole in the ground… the **_CHASM OF SPIKES! _**"Whoa!" cried Alex "He's gone!"

"And there is far more than that…" hollered Dox "With the death of your monster, your life points are reduced by one-fourth of its attack power."

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 3600 & Alex: 3575_**

**_VS_**

**_Para: 3600 & Dox: 4000_**

Alex felt really stupid for walking right into that trap, but she didn't let it get to her. The trap was sprung and was gone. "I'll move my Darkfire Soldier ahead then, and I'll place one card facedown and end my turn."

_"I have a sneaky feeling we're really going to need it later."_ she thought.

It was time for Dox to move, and he drew his card. "Ah, the second piece of our puzzle. I shall place it face down in defense-mode."

"Again?" snapped Alex "Why don't you quit cowering and show us what you're doing?"

"Ha! We shall reveal what is coming to you when the time is right, but for now I shall at least reveal this hidden monster, **_DUNGEON WORM!"_**

**_(Atk: 1800)_**

The sight of that ugly worm gave the girls the creeps, and Clover felt like puking. "Okay, really not something I needed to see."

Dox snickered, "And if you think it is harsh now, I will empower it with a **_LASER CANNON ARMOR_** spell card, boosting its attack and defense by 300."

**_(Atk: 1800) Become s (Atk: 2100)_**

"And I believe I should mention that in the labyrinth arena, my worm has a new power allowing him to tunnel directly under the ground and take your monsters by surprise."

Alex and I gasped, and sure enough, the worm tunneled under the ground and burst through, devouring my Maiden of the Moonlight! "No!" I shouted.

**_(Atk: 2100) VS (Atk: 1500)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 3000 & Alex: 3575_**

**_VS_**

**_Para: 3600 & Dox: 4000_**

The brothers were very pleased with their accomplishment. "An excellent performance, brother." said Para. Dox nodded "And I am far from through. My Beast of Talwar will advance another seven spaces, and prepare to fire on the Darkfire Soldier!"

Alex shuddered in fear. Her monster wouldn't stand a chance against that monster, and she had no other cards to stop it with. The Beast had finally reached her soldier, but before Dox could order his attack. "Hold on, Alex…!" I said "I activate my trap card, **_(MAGICAL HATS!)"_**

"Huh?" remarked the brothers.

"Yes…" I said "As for our monsters, now you see them… now you don't." Both Alex's Soldier and my Dark Magician were concealed under two large hats, and two more identical hats appeared. "What sort of trick is this?" sneered Dox.

It was very simple. Our monsters were concealed beneath the hats, but which hats exactly was a mystery. "Hey, I get it…" said Alex "Smooth move Mykan. Way to pull a trick out of your hat."

I nodded at her. "And… My Dark Magician has an attack of 2500. Both the Dungeon Worm and the Beast aren't strong enough. So if either of them were to attack the wrong hat and uncover the Dark Magician, they'll only destroy themselves."

Dox growled in frustration. With the Dark Magician hiding under one of the hats, he couldn't risk attacking at all, which also meant Alex's monster was safe too, and now it was my turn. I drew my card, but I didn't dare risk attacking the beast as it would mean my magician would be revealed, and I couldn't attack the worm underground where I couldn't get to it. "I place one card facedown, and end my turn."

Now it was over to Para. "If you really think your little plan is full proof, Mykan, you are sorely mistaken." He then gazed over at his brother, who nodded at him. "I play the spell card **_BRAIN CONTROL. _**At a cost of 800 life points…"

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 3000 & Alex: 3575_**

**_VS_**

**_Para: 2800 & Dox: 4000_**

"…I am permitted to take control of any monster that is in play for the duration of my turn."

"Yeah, well tough luck pal..." said Alex "You can't control our monsters while their under the hats."

Para sniggered "You misunderstand. I said I can control any monster, even that of my brother's such as the Dungeon Worm."

"Yes, I will gladly let you have it, my brother." said Dox, and the worm burst up through the ground by Para's side. "And now that it is under my control, I shall equip it with yet another spell card the **_MALEVOLENT NUZZLER,_** which I can now use to add 700 attack points to my worm's attack!"

Alex and I gasped. With its attack now at 2800, the worm was even stronger than my Dark Magician. It was all going to be up to a little luck. Para ordered the worm to strike, but we got lucky as he hit an empty hat. "Hmm… I have missed!"

Alex sighed in relief. "That was close!"

Sam and Clover sighed too. "I thought we were busted for sure that time." said Clover. "Maybe, but don't forget, that worm can attack again next turn, and I don't think the odds will be in our favor then." said Sam.

Alex and I were aware of this to, but with Para's turn over, the worm returned to Dox's side of the field, completely exposed. It now was Alex's turn, and she drew her card. "Huh? Hey, I bet this can work." she said. "Stand back, I've got a plan. First I'll have Darkfire Soldier return to the maze."

We all watched as Alex's soldier emerged from one of the hats, and began to proceed to the end of the maze with the Dungeon Worm well in view. "Alex, your monster was safe." Sam hollered.

"What are you thinking?" snapped Clover.

"I'm thinking this…" said Alex "…the spell **_SALAMANDRA, _**and it boosts the attack of a fire monster by 700."

**_(Atk: 1700) Becomes (Atk: 2400)_**

"Go, Darkfire Soldier, fire the Salamandra!" Even from that distance, with its new fire-power, Darkfire Soldier could attack the worm from where it was. "What do you think you're doing?!" snarled Dox "Your monster is weaker than mine."

"Oh, really…?" said Alex "What if I were to activate my face down; **_MYSTICAL SPACE TYPHOON! _**So say bye-bye to your Malevolent Nuzzler card 700 attack points, and hello to fried-worm!"

Dox yelled in shock as his worm went up in flames…

**_(Atk: 2400) VS (Atk: 2100_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 3000 & Alex: 3575_**

**_VS_**

**_Para: 2800 & Dox: 3700_**

"Great move, Alex!" I commended "That puts an end to their tunneling maneuver."

Alex gave me a big thumb up, and Sam and Clover high-fived each other, but the brothers were outraged. Now it was Dox's turn. "Hurry, brother…!" cried Para "You must draw the card we need."

"Indeed!" cried Dox as he drew his card. "Aha! I have it, the final piece!" The brothers laughed maliciously.

"A monster we shall now create…"

"…A monster who will annihilate!"

Dox then played his monster and revealed his facedown monster…

**_KAZEJIN… (Atk: 2400)_**

**_SUIJIN… (Atk: 2500)_**

"And now I shall invoke the power of **_CHANGE OF HEART, _**so my brother's monster will come to me… **_SANGA OF THE THUNDER…!"_**

**_(Atk: 2600)_**

With the three monsters now revealed, the entire field began to quiver and shake as the three monsters began to glow. "What's going on?!" cried Alex.

"They're monsters… they're combining into one!" I replied with worry, and as the lights glowed and the magic began, the brothers chanted…

_"Elements of thunder, water, and wind  
__Sujin, Sanga, Kazejin… begin!  
__Meld your powers in eternal light.  
__Show these fools your unstable might!"_

The monster appeared in a glowing beam of light. "Here it comes!" cried Sam, "But what is it?" asked Clover.

"He is one you cannot beat…"

"The creature that will bring you to defeat…"

**_"…(GATE GUARDIAN!)"_**

**_(Atk: 3750)_**

The girls remembered studying about this card, and as if it weren't already bad enough, the Gate Guardian had new rules for the labyrinth…

For one thing, Gate Guardian was much too big and massive to travel into the maze,

While it did have an attack of 3750… if the brothers chose so, since the monster was created out of three other monsters, instead of using the full force attack, they could use one of each of the three other monsters to attack, provided they used the monster respective attack points and not the full force. The made it so they could choose to attack with a force of 2400, 2500, or 2600!

"Whoa!" snapped Alex "Talk about being way cheap! How are we supposed to be that thing?"

"You fool! No one has ever gotten past our Gate Guardian." said Para.

"And speaking of which, it is time for it to unleash its power!" shouted Dox. "This is the end for you!"

**_To Be Continued…!_**


	16. Double Trouble: Part 2

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN  
****(Part Two)**

The upper section of the Gate Gaurdian, The Sanga of the Thunder, with 2600 attack points was charging up and ready to attack the entrance of the maze where Alex's Darkfire Soldier stood. "Oh, no…! I don't think my soldier can withstand this!" Alex cried.

"It's too late for you now…!" hollered Dox "Sanga of the Thunder, attack now!" At his orders, the Gate Guardian fired its beam right at Alex's monster. "Your monster is beaten!"

"Wrong…!" I snapped "You've fallen right into another one of my traps, **_MAGIC CYLINDER!"_**

The brothers gasped as the blast from their monster fired right back at Dox and dealt a full 2600 blows to his life points. "My score…!"

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 3000 & Alex: 3575_**

**_VS_**

**_Para: 2800 & Dox: 1100_**

"Stay strong, my brother!" cried Para.

Alex had never felt so relieved before. "Thank a big time bundle, Mykan."

"It's no problem, Alex. You and I are a team, and I intend to help you just as you've been helping me."

Alex nodded at me, and Dox ended his turn, not wanting to fall for another trap just yet. "You may have outwitted us this time, but rest assured you will suffer dearly!"

"The only one that's about to be sorry is your Beast of Talwar."

Dox gasped, only now just realizing that he had been so busy and distracted on his last turn, he had left it completely exposed. That's when I drew my next card, and ordered my Dark Magician to escape from the Magical hats, dispelling them for good. "Dark Magician, attack!" and Dox's beast was blown to pieces, much to Dox's frustration.

**_(Atk: 2500) VS (Atk: 2400)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 3000 & Alex: 3575_**

**_VS_**

**_Para: 2800 & Dox: 1000_**

This put Alex and me way in the lead, and the brothers were growing angrier yet. "Now, to finish my turn, I'll activate the spell card **_EXCHANGE!" _**That card let me take one card from any of the other players hand and add to it my own, and then they got to take one of mine in return. The brothers seemed eager to know which one of them I'd choose, but to their surprise I chose to swap with Alex. After all, she was a player too, and this was a tag duel where duelists could share.

So, me and Alex left our stands and approached each other, and we showed our hands to one another, which also helped us to develop a strategy to use. One of which concerned the Gate Guardian, and as it was made of the three monsters, we could try and take it down one section at a time, but we also felt it wouldn't be easy and wondered if maybe it had one another specialty from the labyrinth which the brothers didn't say of yet.

Still, we each swapped one card form our respective hands with each other and went back to our posts.

In the meantime it was Para's turn. "You really think it makes much a difference if you swap with each other?" He explained that since both he and Dox helped to make the Gate Guardian, it would serve under both of their commands each turn, without them having to actually play any control cards- just another one of their crazy labyrinth rules. "Allow me to show you another lethality of our guardian's power. Now, Suijin, fire your tidal surge now!"

Alex and I gasped as the lower 2500 attack of Sujin fired, and unleashed a current of water right through the maze washing Alex's soldier away.

**_(Atk: 2500) VS (Atk: 2400)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 3000 & Alex: 3475_**

**_VS_**

**_Para: 2800 & Dox: 1000_**

"He's gone! My soldier's been washed out!" cried Alex.

"…And it only gets worse" said Para as he ordered Kazejin to attack my Dark Magician. "What?" I snapped. Kazejin was weaker than my Dark Magician, and sure enough, even from the long distance between us, my magician was struck and counter-attacked back, exactly as the brothers wanted for they wanted to show me one trick they had in case I got any strange ideas of fighting back…

As my Dark Magician's attack headed for the mid-section, to my surprise, Sanga of the thunder intercepted my blast, and stopped it right then. "You see that?" snapped Para "Your hope is fading fast."

His brother agreed "For you see... if you attempt to attack any section of our Gate Guardian, and the other sections can use their own attacks to defend it. There is nothing more you can do."

Alex and I should have guessed they'd try and pull a stunt like this, but at least now we knew what to expect, and now it was Alex's turn. She drew her next card and got exactly what she needed. She looked at me, and I nodded at her telling her to do it!

"All right you weirdo brothers, take this. I'm summoning my newest card, **_RED EYES BLACK DRAGON!"_**

**_(Atk: 2400)_**

"And now, check this out… I'm going to use **_POLYMERIZATION, _**letting me fuse my Red Eyes with the **_SUMMONED SKULL_** I got from Mykan!"

Everyone watched as the two monsters merged into one. "What's that?" asked Clover.

"Whatever it is… It sure looks strong." said Sam.

I stood proudly and told the brothers "Behold! You now face our new monster; **_BLACK SKULL DRAGON!"_**

**_(Atk: 3200)_**

Our dragon roared fiercely and seemed ready for a big fight, but the brothers laughed at us. "Uh, Mykan… why don't they look worried?" asked Alex.

"A big tall dragon, you may possess…" said Para.

"But there is still one rule that makes it worthless." rhymed Dox.

The brothers explained that maze was a no flying zone, so Dragons, Winged-Beasts, and other monster cards that could only move by flight were not permitted to enter. Our dragon was stuck right where it was. Alex felt like she was going to have a fit "I can't take it anymore! All these new rules, one after another… MAKE IT STOP!"

"Calm down, Alex!" I hollered at her "I had a sneaky feeling there was going to be a catch, but I know how we can overcome it."

"Oh… cool then." Alex said having completely calmed down. She finished her turn placing one card facedown. Now it was Dox's turn. "Prepared to be crushed!" he sneered as he drew his next card. "Ah… this will do very nicely." He showed his draw to his brother. "Ah, an excellent card; Play it my brother."

"With pleasure brother; **_(RIRYOKU...!)"_**

I gasped hard "No! Not that card!"

"Uh… mind filling me in. I don't think I studied that one."

Riryoku was a very rare and powerful spell card, as Dox explained that he could use it to cut both Alex's and my life point in half!

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 1500 & Alex: 1737_**

**_VS_**

**_Para: 2800 & Dox: 1000_**

Sam and Clover were outraged, but not as outraged and me and Alex, together we had lost a total of 3237, and that wasn't the worst part. All those points were now transferred to the Gate Guardian's  
attack power, giving its whole body a grand total of…6987, and 3237 divided by 3, each of the three sections were now 1079 points stronger.

**_(Atk: 3679) (Atk: 3479) (Atk: 3579)_**

"Feel fortunate that using Riryoku forbids me from attacking." said Dox "But it matters not, for nothing you have no will ever be strong enough to defeat us. Not even your ferocious dragon over there."

"We'll see…" I said as I drew my card. "I'll just set this card facedown, and then I'll advance my Dark Magician forward six spaces and out of the maze."

"You fool!" snapped Para "Why are you moving your Dark Magician towards the end of the maze when you know our Gate Guardian is there just waiting to attack?"

"You'll see soon enough." I said "Make your move."

"As you wish…" Para said "And now, the time has come for me to wipe you out for good, Mykan! You made a very foolish mistake to lure your Dark Magician out into the open… Gate Guardian attack now…!"

Using the Kazejin section, Gate Guardian prepared to fire at my magician "Exactly what I was hoping for."

"What?!" snapped Para, and without warning, a strong binding chains ensnared Gate Guardian, and stopped its attack. "Ha! You just fell into my **_KUNAI WITH CHAIN_** trap." said Alex "Thanks to this handy baby, I changed your monster into defense-mode just before it attacked. What'cha gonna do now?"

Alex and I gazed and grinned at one another commending each other's performances.

"This is an outrage!" growled Para. "We'll make them pay yet!" added Dox "Our Guardian is stronger still, and his Dark Magician can do nothing."

Para ended his turn, and the Gate Guardian would be free to attack again next turn, Alex was still feeling there was no way to crush it, until she drew her card. She gazed at it and at her other cards and suddenly she had a really sinister look in her eyes "Oh, boy I just got a killer idea!"

The rest of us were curious to find out what she was planning.

"Stand back… I activate **_DOUBLE SPELL!"_** In order for her to play it, she first had to discard a spell card form her hand which she did. "…Now that that's done, I can activate any spell card either of you goons used in the game… and I'll play **_(RIRYOKU!)"_**

The brothers gasped in horror as their scores were cut in half…

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 1500 & Alex: 1737_**

**_VS_**

**_Para: 1400 & Dox: 500_**

"If I were you I would be gawking, because those 1900 attack points are going to a much better use, my Black Skull Dragon!"

**_(Atk: 3200) Becomes (Atk: 5100)_**

"Alex, great move…!" I commended. Alex gave me the peace sign, but still our dragon wasn't strong enough. Nevertheless, Alex placed her last card facedown, and then it was Dox's turn. "And I shall change our Guardian into attack mode again."

With the chains gone, the Guardian had now gone back to its near 7000 attack power. "The time has come, and you are done!" snarled Para

"Once we attack, the duel shall be won!" rhymed Dox "Gate Guardian, use your Sanga of thunder attack, and destroy Dark Magician!"

It was the full force this time. Clover and Sam were very worried. If the attack hit, then I'd be wiped out from the duel. The attack struck with a powerful force, Alex and I shielded our eyes!

The brother laughed and felt a celebration was in order, but when the smoke had cleared, much to their horrors. "Do you see what I see?" cried Para. "I see it, but I do not believe it!"

There, in the smoke, stood not my Dark Magician, but the Black Skull Dragon. "Ha!" I scoffed "Are you confused?"

I revealed that just before the brother's launched their attack, I activate my facedown **_SHIFT_** card, and it allowed me to change the attack target from the Dark Magician to the Black Skull Dragon; they magically had switched positions putting the dragon now at the end of the maze and right before Gate Guardian.

"Ah! That is inconceivable!" cried Para.

"Knowing that their dragon could not move in the maze, he had his Dark Magician Do it for him!" added Dox.

The Black Skull dragon got struck, and deflected the weaker attack back at Gate Guardian, but the brothers still managed to wart it off with the other two sections, and since they couldn't use the full power attack, or attack with the other sections, the turn had ended.

"The time has now come…" I said as I drew my card. "Thanks to the teamwork Alex and I have exhibited, your Gate Guardian is about to fall!"

"There is no way!" snapped Para.

"There's nothing you can play!" rhymed Dox.

"What I have to play is the card I got from Alex during our exchange." I gazed over and Alex and she nodded at me to go for it. "I now play the spell **_BLOCK ATTACK!"_**

The brothers gasped as their Guardian was forced into defense mode, and it wouldn't be able to perform its defenses this time!

**_(Def: 3400)_**

"Since it's been hard to tear down your monster one piece at a time, the only option now is for me to attack it all at once as just one monster!" I said as the dragon stepped forth and opened its huge mouth and blasted the Guardian to shreds in a big ball of fire.

The brothers were totally devastated by the loss of their beloved monster, but Clover and Alex couldn't stop leaping and cheering for joy. "And we're still not done yet…" Alex said "Now I reveal my facedown card, **_DE-FUSION!"_**

Our Black Skull Dragon split back up into our original two monsters with attacks of 2400 and 2500!

"Red Eyes Black Dragon…!"

"Summoned Skull…!"

_"…ATTACK!" _Alex and I shouted, and our two monsters struck the brothers directly! The screamed and hollered as they got hit!

**_FINAL-SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 1500 & Alex: 1737_**

**_VS_**

**_Para: "0000" & Dox: "0000"_**

"It's over!" I said

"We've beat you!" added Alex.

The brothers were in disgrace, but Sam and Clover jumped for joy and they ran to both me and Alex colliding in a big group hug. All six gatekeepers had been defeated, but the brothers got up and laughed at us. "You're still not set." said Para.

"There's but one test yet." rhymed Dox and we all remembered the duel was only part of the deal, but we still had to choose one of the two doors and figure out which was the way out of the maze.

"If you wish to be free, choose my way." said Para

"Choose my door or else you'll pay." rhymed Dox.

"Ugh! This again?!" groaned Clover "Can you two quit with the mind games and give us a straight answers." and the brothers both replied_ "I am giving you a straight answer."_

I still couldn't use my millennium necklace to time gaze ahead or back to seek the answers, but I also didn't think I actually had to. I decided "We'll decide this with a coin toss."

The girls didn't like the idea, but the brothers didn't seem to mind. The rules were simple, I would flip the coin and whatever the coin showed would not be the door we went through. Heads was for Para and tails for Dox. I tossed the coin, and it turned up tails. "That is the symbol for my door." Dox said.

Para nodded "But was your choice good, or was it poor."

The brothers grinned and then were silent for a moment and then they finally said…

"Your selection is very wrong!" said Para.

"It was my doorway all along!" added Dox.

The girls gasped. "You mean we chose the wrong doorway?" asked Alex. I smirked and shook my head. "No, Alex… we haven't guessed wrong."

"Yes you have!" snapped Para.

"Except if we had chosen his door then yours would be the right one." I said, making the brothers look nervous and it totally gave them away to all of us that they were able to change what door lead which way to ensure we chose wrong.

"You rotten sneaks!" snarled Sam.

"That is way low!" added Clover.

"Totally!" said Alex.

The brothers growled, but insisted that we were too late.

"You already picked the wrong way…" said Para

"So in the maze is where you'll stay." added Dox.

I snickered and shook my head telling them "Think again." and I revealed the coin I used was a trick coin with tails on both sides, much to the brothers' surprise. It was all part of my plan to trick them into revealing their sneaky trick. The brothers had run out of tricks, and decided to just let us out to freedom.

Just as well, there was nothing that could stop us now. Next stop, the palace itself!


	17. Reunited!

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

The King received word that the brothers had been defeated, and nothing would stop me and the spies from reaching the palace now, but rather than post extra guards all around, he had a better idea of how to confront me once and for all. "You fight well, but with the power of my millennium eye, you'll wish you had stayed away, Mykan."

…

After walking up a flight of stone steps, the girls and I stepped out of the cavern and were once again outside and exposed to the fresh air and the night sky. "I thought we'd never get out of here." said Alex.

Clover felt as if her skin had gotten a little pale from being in the dark for so long. "I seriously could go for a tanning on the beach right about now."

Nevertheless, we could see… the royal palace was just near where we were. "We made it!" cried Sam, but I quickly covered her mouth. "Shh…! Not so loud!" I said, and a pointed on ahead where we could see all the guards were making their nightly rounds of the place. They were practically everywhere, but hadn't seen or heard us yet. "How are we supposed to get past them all?" asked Alex.

"We don't even have any gadgets to help us." added Clover.

I had an idea, and just hoped it would work. "Gather around me, girls." I said. The girls wondered what I was up to, and they soon got their answer as I shut my eyes and folded my hands just before my millennium necklace. The necklace began to glow. "What's going on?" asked Sam as dark light seemed to surround us. The girls could hardly believe what they saw, but everything around us, the grass, the sky, the landscape and structures, even the guards… they seemed all dark faded, almost like looking through a pair of sunglasses.

"It's working." I said "Follow me girls, and stay close." I began to walk casually out into the open right towards the guards where they were sure to spot me. "Mykan, don't!" cried Sam, but as I stepped right before one of the guards, the man didn't move or even respond. The girls stepped before the guard too, and waved their hands before his eyes, and still he didn't respond.

"Yo', Earth to Mr. Guard." Said Alex, but the guard remained silent. "He can't hear or see us." I said. "We're invisible, enveloped in a dark blanket powered by my necklace."

The girls sighed in awe, and remembered that I did this to them back at Mali-U, which was why they weren't able to track me so easily, but I warned the girls to stay close. If they wandered too far from me they'd step out of the darkness and be seen.

The girls stuck close to me as we crossed through the yard. "Um, Mykan… why isn't the front door way back there?" asked Clover. "We're taking a different route." I said. Even though we outwitted the guards, I could tell that King Wilhelm was aware that we were here. So going through the front door wouldn't be too smart, and I knew of another way…

I led the girls around the palace and then to a wall that a strong and thick metal trellis with small vines around it, perfect for climbing, and leading all the way up to a terrace. "That's where Sabrina's bedroom is." I said, and began to feel very nervous and somewhat unsure again. It had still been one whole year since I saw her. What did I have to expect? Would she still recognize me? Did she still love me? "What am I going to do?"

One by one, the girls persuaded me to get climbing up there. We came all this way, dueled our way across creepy gatekeepers, not to mention faced a few hazards on the way. "And you're having second thoughts?" asked Sam.

"Come on, where's the tough teach who taught us back in Mali-U?" added Clover.

"Mykan, we helped you get here because you believed in us, and now you have to believe in yourself just as you did while we were dueling." said Alex "Do it for us… as well as yourself, and the princess."

Hear those words helped me overcome my nerves. "Let's start climbing!" I used to climb the trellis all the time, as a playful gesture to Sabrina while we were together. Her own father came up with the idea for me to climb up and give her flowers much like a gallant prince in an enchanted fairytale. The girls found that sweet.

We reached the top and climbed over the terrace, still unseen by anyone. We peeked through the glass doors and Clover was very jealous of the size of the bedroom and all the luxuries in it.

Then suddenly, I gasped softly… for there she was, wearing a beautiful red nightdress and a matching red bathrobe over it. She sat at the end of her bed, and didn't look as if she had been sleeping very well. She looked pretty sad and weepy…

Poor Sabrina, completely unaware of the events that had happened, hadn't been the same since that tragic day a year ago when her father had cast me out to sea and broke her heart. Now, her nasty father was worse than ever, and she still believed that the next day she would be engaged to be married off to that slime-ball, Julius, and even though she had vocally refused many times, her father was forcing her to go along with it.

All this sadness and heartache, she just couldn't sleep. She reached under her massive matrass and pulled out an old photo of her and me at a picnic. It was the one photo she had of us, and of me left since her father had confiscated all the memorabilia we had shared over the years, in a foolish attempt to make her forget.

"Oh, Mykan… I miss you so much." she spoke very softly "I just wish I knew where you were, and if you were okay. My father may be forcing me to marry another, but no matter what he or anyone says, my heart belongs to you… my one and only true love." She clutched the photo to her heart, and felt sobbed quietly to herself.

I had seen enough. If that wasn't proof she still loved me, I didn't know what was. I deactivated the invisibility. "Here goes…" I said still feeling a little nervous. I walked right up to the door and gently tapped on the glass.

Sabrina perked her head up and wiped her eyes as she gazed through the glass and saw me waving at her. Her heart began to race as she got up and nearly tripped as she ran to the door to let me in. I crept in and we both kept very quiet so as not to be overheard by anyone else. "Sabrina…!"

"Mykan…? Is it really you?"

I pulled off my kerchief, and she saw it round my neck. "Oh, my millennium necklace…!"

"I've taken care of it all this time… but I've missed you so much, my princess!"

We gazed deeply into each other's eyes and gently held her face in my hands and brought her closer to me catching her lips in mine for the first time in a long time. She curled her arms round my neck pulling me closer.

The girls saw everything, and tears of extreme happiness came to their eyes. It was so beautiful seeing two long lost lovers reunited.

After proper introductions, I told Sabrina to get dressed and pack up whatever she could bring with her, and we'd take her with us away from the island and away from her wicked father, that way we could try and get him help. Sabrina agreed whole heartedly and it only took her about ten minutes to pack up, and change from her night dress into her favorite outfit… a red outfit with short skirt and long black boots. She looked more like a serious fighter than a princess now.

With just one suitcase, I energized the magic making us all invisible again, and we all climbed down the trellis together. Now it was just a simple matter of walking all the way across the island and back to where our rafts were. We managed to get across safely, but at the final stretch of field before where the rafts were, my magic faded, but I didn't do it, and big lights shone on us and we found ourselves surrounded by guards.

"Well, well, fancy meeting you here, Mykan Jaden!" growled a familiar voice. We looked behind and saw him standing with his arms folded, and had obviously used his millennium eye to spot me and dispel the magic.

"…King Wilhelm!" I growled. The spies felt their anger starting to rise.

"That's right…" growled the king "I've been aware of your little intrusion the whole time, and decided to wait here so I can punish you personally! Now take your filthy hands off of my daughter, give back the millennium necklace you stole, and leave this place forever!"

_"Someone seriously needs to chill."_ Alex muttered in her mind.

"I don't need to chill!" thundered the king. Alex gasped "But I didn't say anything!"

Alex had quite forgotten the millennium eye let Wilhelm look into people's minds and see just what it was they were thinking or planning. "You can't outwit me, Mykan, and I'm only going to say this one last time. Let go of Sabrina, give back the necklace, and beat it!"

"I won't!" I snarled furiously.

"Daddy, stop this now!" added Sabrina. "I told you many times, Mykan didn't steal the necklace, I gave it to him."

I nodded and pulled off my kerchief revealing the necklace and retold that she gave it to me out of love, and that's what I really kept it for. Not for its magic, not because it was priceless, but for what it stood for, that she trusted me with it.

The king was getting really tired of hearing this story, having been told enough time by Sabrina. "All the more reason for you to hightail it out of here…! You're unworthy in my sights which makes you unworthy of my daughter."

"Daddy, stop it!" growled Sabrina "You've been pushing me around for over a year now, and I'm not going to put up with it any longer. I love Mykan. I love him will all my heart and I say he is worthy of me."

I held her by the arm and gently held her close. "We don't know what's happened to you, King, but it ends here. She's coming with us!"

_"Yeah!"_ growled the spies and the king completely lost his temper and ordered the guards to seize us all, but the spies outmaneuvered them with ease. Sabrina and I joined in the fight too. She had a black belt in judo, and I studied martial arts too. The guards were all knocked down and out with ease, but suddenly a bright glow of light surrounded me. "Mykan!" cried Sam.

"I… can't move!" I groaned, and suddenly the spies and Sabrina were frozen where they stood, and the king chuckling sinisterly. "Like I said... you can't outwit me!" He approached us all heading for me first. "Time for me to do what I should've done a long time ago…!"

He raised his arm ready to grab me and really punish me good when my necklace began to glow and he roared and shielded his eyes, while at the same time, I began to feel something unusual about the king. As he almost touched me, it felt as if there was _something else_… or rather _someone else _other than the king at present!

When he looked back, the girls and I were free from the magic. "You're not the only one who's capable of magic, king." I sneered at him.

The king was outraged. "Fine…! I'll make you a deal!" he growled. "We'll have a duel, one-on-one."

"…A duel?" I asked.

The king nodded "If you win, you're free to go and can take Sabrina with you."

The girls and even Sabrina didn't like the sound of the wager or the king's voice, and tried to persuade me not to do it, especially seeing as he was probably planning to do exactly what he did the last time we dueled.

"You don't have to duel this psycho!" snapped Clover.

"We can easily leave without all this trouble." added Sam.

"Mykan, please!" cried Sabrina.

"Let's just go already." said Alex.

I thought it over and decided "No! I'm going to accept."

The girls were shocked and horrified, and again tried make me reconsider. "No!" I said and I turned to face the king and explained that I wasn't doing this because of the bet, but I told the girls about the funny feeling I had when he tried to grab me. "There's something strange going on here, and I'll bet that if I duel we'll get to the bottom of things."

So, I accepted, and the king grinned wickedly at me, and he was wearing a duel-disk already so we decided to dish it out right then and there. "I hope you realize what you're up against, Mykan." Wilhelm hissed "If you didn't learn anything from our last duel, you may as well give up and leave here now!"

I wasn't about to let his words get to me. As well as all that was riding on the duel, I was eager to get a little revenge for all he had put me, Sabrina, and the spies through. _"I know there's something strange going on, and I'm going find out what it is."_ I said in thought, but Wilhelm could hear my thoughts. _"You won't find anything, Mykan… except a one way ticket to your end!"_

Sabrina felt very nervous, and the spies could feel her tension. This was it. All they could do was watch me from the sidelines and Wilhelm and I stood ready. _"…DUEL!"_


	18. Part 1:Ultimate Rematch

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN  
****(Part One)**

This was it. The scores were set…

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 8000 VS Wilhelm: 8000_**

I drew my first cards, and thought calmly _"This is it; I just hope I know what I'm doing."_

_"No you don't."_ Wilhelm thought in response as heard what I thought.

I held my cards up. "Now then… we begin. I'll place one card facedown, and I set one monster in defense-mode. That ends my turn."

Wilhelm held up his cards. "That wouldn't happen to be a Giant Soldier of Stone you've got hiding down there, would it?"

I tried my hardest not to show how shocked I was, but already I could feel Wilhelm could tell what both of my cards were and was preparing for them. "Well, for my move I'll place a card facedown too, and I'll summon this, **_WITTY PHANTOM_** in attack mode!"

**_(Atk: 1400)_**

He ended his turn, but I couldn't understand why he played such a weak monster in attack-mode, while Wilhelm was thinking to himself. _"Come on, Mykan. I know you're going to try and do a combo on me, with your Horn of the Unicorn."_

I drew my next card, and decided I'd have no choice but to take my chance. "I'll switch my Giant Soldier of Stone into attack mode!"

**_(Atk: 1300)_**

"And now, I equip him with my hidden card, **_HORN OF THE UNICORN,_** which raises his attack power by 700, giving him 2000 attack points."

"That's what you think…" snapped Wilhelm. "You fell for my trap, **_MAGIC JAMMER! _**Now all I do is discard one card from my hand, and your spell card is knocked out and away."

I watched in horror as my spell was vanquished, but it returned to the top of my deck, which meant I would draw it next turn. The girls were outraged. "Mykan totally gets the upper hand and your dad just knocks it out like he saw it was coming?" snapped Clover.

"It's how he's been dueling the past while." said Sabrina "Using that millennium eye of his to read your mind and see your cards and your every move."

"That is so cheap!" growled Alex "How can anyone play the game when your opponent can psyche you out like that."

Sam thought it a debauchery of the whole concept of gaming. "He gives cheating a whole new name."

Wilhelm liked hearing the girls worry aloud about me. "Even your friends are just starting to get the message Mykan. You haven't got a chance against me."

I clenched my fist trying to contain my anger. "I won't let you have your way with me." I said as I raised my card, but before I played it. "So… going to use the _Summoned Skull_ on me, are you?" said Wilhelm "Or maybe you'd like to use your _Maiden of the Moonlight, Magical Hats,_ _Shadow Spell, _or _Horn of the_ _Unicorn_ that you just drew?"

My hands quivered slightly. "Do you still doubt my power?" asked Wilhelm.

I growled, and deciding not to let get to me, "… I sacrifice my stone soldier for **_SUMMONED SKULL!" _**

**_(Atk: 2500)_**

"Attack now…!"

**_(Atk: 2500) VS (Atk: 1400)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 8000 VS Wilhelm: 6900_**

The girls cheered for joy as I had taken the lead, but Wilhelm yawned sarcastically. "Oh, no… my precious life points." he added in an even heavier sarcastic tone, which I didn't like. _"Why is he acting so calm as if nothing happened?"_ I thought.

"…Wouldn't you like to know?" Wilhelm hissed. _"Of course I already know. You're going to lay your Shadow Spell trap card facedown."_ He thought to himself, and I did indeed set one card facedown, ending my turn.

"Fine then, I'll draw…" said Wilhelm "Now I'll use **_MONSTER REBORN_** to bring back the monster I discarded, **_HYOZANRYU!"_**

**_(Atk: 2100)_**

I was most confused. "Hyozanryu…? But why summon that? It's weaker than my Summoned Skull."

"True, your monster may be stronger than mine, but what if I were to play this little spell; **_SHIELD AND SWORD!"_**

I gasped, and so did all the girls, for we all knew that card switched the attack and defense points of all monsters currently in play. Now the dragon was at 2800 attack points, while my skull was dropped down to a measly 1200.

Wilhelm attacked it, and my skull was shattered to bits, and put my score lower.

**_(Atk: 2800) VS (Atk: 1200)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 6400 VS Wilhelm: 6900_**

"Too bad, so sad." laughed Wilhelm. "You're not faring any better than you did the last time we dueled, Mykan."

His taunting was really starting to get on my nerves, and the nerves of the girls. Alex was starting to wish she could just go right over there and pound some sense into that jerk of a king.

"I'll set monster in defense-mode and set one card facedown. That end my turn. Make your move, Mykan. If you can that is." He saw how angry I was getting. "…Ooh… did I touch a nerve?"

I drew my next card, but Wilhelm already saw it was Pot of Greed. I played it anyway and drew two cards, but no matter how hard I tried to conceal my strategies, and think to myself, Wilhelm's millennium eye continued to probe my mind. Even while I thought _"There's got to be a way to stop him."_

"Fat chance of that." he replied aloud. "There's nothing you can do that can stop me, and no matter what cards you pull, I'll just read them and use it to my advantage to knock you out."

"You're wrong." I snapped "Nothing is without weakness, and I know you have one, and when I find it you'll wish you had never challenged me."

"Then make your move, and prove me wrong."

"I shall… by placing one monster in defense mode. That ends my turn."

"And at the end of your turn, I'll activate my trap, **_SOLEMN WISHES!"_**

I gasped and the growled.

"Oh, no… not that card?!" cried Sam.

"Why? What's it do?" asked Alex.

Memorizing her studies of the game, Sam remembered that as long as Solemn Wishes was in play, every time Wilhelm drew a card or cards at all, his life points would go up by 500 each time. Alex and Clover gasped in worry, while Wilhelm found it very amusing. "It seems you taught your students well, Mykan." he taunted "Perhaps they should be the ones dueling instead of you, but then, what does it matter?"

Sabrina clenched her fists trying to keep calm from all the anger at how cheap and nasty her father was being and how worried she was for me. "Stay strong, Mykan! You can do this, I know you can."

Her father scoffed "The only thing that'll stay strong is me." He drew his card, and his life points went up, but he drew his own Pot of Greed, and activated it letting him draw two more cards, which gave him 1000 life points like that.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 6400 VS Wilhelm: 7900_**

He gazed at his newly drawn cards and snickered wickedly. I didn't like it when he got that look in his eyes. "Well now… let's take a little cruise down memory lane." Wilhelm teased and he revealed to me his card. "Oh, no…!" I cried "That card!"

Wilhelm snickered and nodded wickedly. "Oh, yes… you do remember. I pay 1000 life points and activate the continuous spell card **_TOON WORLD!"_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 6400 VS Wilhelm: 6900_**

With that, a mysterious book appeared on the field and enchanted Wilhelm's side of the field with a cartoonish glow, and the next, nothing. "That's it?" snapped Clover "That's the big toon threat we were told of? Kind of lame is you ask me." But Sabrina shook her head "That was just the beginning; it's going to get way worse. Just watch."

Wilhelm then held his next card up. "Now here's another old friend you may recognize, **_TOON MERMAID!"_**

**_(Atk: 1400)_**

The spies didn't know what to think of the new monster. She seemed ordinary enough; Clover almost even thought her fashion sense was awesome and imagined how many boys she, herself, could attract if she was dressed like that, but Sabrina assured the girls the monster's appearance was nothing compared to its ability, and she was right…

Wilhelm explained for the spies… All Toon monsters drew power from Toon World itself, and could only be played as long as Toon World was on the field, if it went down, so would all Toons. As for all the Toon Monsters themselves were special summoned, though stronger cards still required tributes to play played if need be. They couldn't attack on the same turn they were summoned, and each attack cost 500 life points, but the beauty of it was… they could attack my life points directly, even if I still had monsters on the field.

The spies were just outraged. "So those things can strike Mykan, even if he's got monsters of his own?" cried Sam.

"Ugh! Can't we ever get a break?!" growled Alex.

Wilhelm continued his move, and revealed his facedown monster, a **_MORPHING JAR!_**

**_(Atk: 700)_**

This forced us both to discard every card in our hands to the graveyard, and then draw five new cards. This, of course, boosted Wilhelm's life points again!

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 6400 VS Wilhelm: 8400_**

Now he had even more life points than when we started! "And even though my Toon monsters can't attack, I have others that can. Hyozanryu, attack now…!"

His dragon dove straight at my monster. "Hold it…!" I snapped "You seem to have forgotten about my trap card, **_SHADOW SPELL,_** activate!" Just like before, powerful chains appeared and prepared to ensnare the dragon, but before they even reached it, the chains were struck by a powerful blast and destroyed. "What? What happened? My trap didn't work!"

Wilhelm was laughing hard, and I could see why-Before my trap had activated, he quickly used **_MYSTICAL SPACE TYPHOON_** from his hand, as it was still his turn, leaving my trap unresolved, and destroying it, which meant his dragon's attack remained uninterrupted and destroyed my monster, **_MASK OF DARKNESS! _**Flipping it up, however, allowed me to add a trap card in the graveyard to my hand.

"Go on, little Mykan…" Wilhelm taunted "Take your Magical Hats back. I know you want to."

I clenched my teeth in anger, but took my card back that I lost form Morphing Jar's effect, giving me a full hand of six card. Six cards which he could already read and gave my strategies away, and he still wasn't finished yet and he ordered his Morphing Jar to strike me directly.

POW! The jar smashed right at my chest knocking me backwards a little, and my score went down another 700.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 5700 VS Wilhelm: 8400_**

"MYKAN!" the girls cried. I was okay, for the moment, but Wilhelm couldn't get enough of all this torturing me. "Your score continues to fall, and mine continues to rise, what else could happen?" Wilhelm taunted. "Well, allow me to answer that, by sacrificing Morphing Jar for a new monster known as **_TOON SUMMONED SKULL!"_**

**_(Atk: 2500)_**

The newly summoned toon burst out from the magic book, gawked at me and made a very silly face, which I found most disturbing. Even the girls thought it was really creepy. "And to think… I used to love watching Saturday morning cartoons." groaned Clover.

Still, it couldn't attack me either on this turn, but Wilhelm was still not done yet. "Now I shall sacrifice Hyozanryu, and summon this, **_MILLENNIUM SHIELD_** in defense mode!"

**_(Def: 3000)_**

The strong shield appeared, but none of us could quite figure why he summoned it and not a Toon. "Now to wrap up my turn, I'll place one card facedown, and I'll give my Toon Mermaid a nice little charm, **_RING OF MAGNETISM!"_**

The mermaid giggled as the shiny ring appeared on her finger, and also a magnetic force field surrounding her. That spell card not only reduced her attack and defense by 500, now putting her at a measly 900 attack points, but now the only monster I could possibly attack was the mermaid itself.

We all began to have that sneaky feeling that Wilhelm was up to something or he wouldn't have done what would be regarded as a bonehead move. There was really only one way to find out. I drew a seventh card, which Wilhelm could see. "So… you drew the Dark Magician."

I growled again, and didn't know how much more of this I could take. Plus, it was only going to get worse next turn for he'd order his toons to attack me directly. The same way he did before when I last faced him and it cost me everything. I wasn't willing to let that happen again. "I won't let you pull the same trick on me this time." I said "I activate the Continuous spell card, **_THE DARK DOOR!"_**

Even though Wilhelm knew I was going to play that, he still showed resentment as if messed up his strategy a little. Now the both of us were only allowed to attack with only one monster per turn. _"Somebody's been studying well, I see." _Wilhelm thought to himself.

"And I summon **_NEO THE MAGIC SWORDSMAN!"_**

**_(Atk: 1700)_**

Although I knew it was risky, I just had to see what Wilhelm was planning, and as I could only attack the Toon Mermaid anyhow, I ordered my swordsman to go after her. "Ha! You've fallen right into my trap again…" scoffed Wilhelm "Or should I say quick-play spell, **_TAILOR OF THE FICKLE!"_**

"Huh?" This card I had never seen before, nor had any of the girls, and Sabrina let it out that it had only just recently been created, as one of her ideas, but not released to the general public, and what it did was pretty sneaky. It allowed Wilhelm to take his Ring of Magnetism on his mermaid, and transfer it over to the Millennium Shield! "Oh, no…!" I cried. "Oh, yes…!" Wilhelm jeered "…and I think you know what that means now." And sure enough, my Neo ran towards the shield and struck at it hard, bouncing himself backward and skidding across the ground.

**_(Atk: 1700) VS (Def: 2500)_**

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 4900 VS Wilhelm: 8400_**

Now all I could attack was the Millennium Shield, and even with its defense lower, it was still much too powerful for me to crush in battle. The girls were outraged, not just by how bad things were looking for me but by how it was clear that Wilhelm was using cards undistributed, that we never heard of. "That lowdown, cheating sneak!" growled Alex.

"How's Mykan going to get out of this?" asked Clover.

Even Sam couldn't figure a way out of this one, and poor Sabrina could feel her whole body aching with nerves of stress worrying about me. Even I was beginning to tremble and quiver. "I… I'll place one card… facedown?" I said feeling unsure, and Wilhelm laughed at how my fear was starting to show. "Look at you… you can't run, and you can't even hide those Magical hats you just put on the field." he taunted.

He then proceeded to draw his next card and his life points went up another 500…

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 4900 VS Wilhelm: 8900_**

Hope was rapidly fading for me with his life points climbing higher than ever before. "This can't be happening?" I said very deeply.

"Oh, but it is…" hissed Wilhelm, "And it's only going to get worse, I'll set this monster in defense mode, and now since it's been one turn, I'll pay 500 life points."

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 4900 VS Wilhelm: 8400_**

"Now, Toon Summoned Skull, obey your king and attack Mykan directly!"

The nasty toon monster nodded goofily, and then slithered and slunk in a cartoonish manner behind my defense and made a face at me before blasting me hard. I yowled loud as the power struck me, and fell over onto my back.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 2400 VS Wilhelm: 8400_**

_"MYKAN!"_ the girls screamed. I just continue to lay there in near complete shock and devastation, and Wilhelm was laughing at me more wickedly than ever. "Now where have I seen this before…? Oh, yes… when you finally realized you didn't stand a chance against me the last time, and it looks like your about to lose everything all over again Mykan."

I didn't want to believe it, but it almost looked as if I was finally finished… I couldn't see any way out of this one. What was I going to do?

**_To Be Continued…!_**


	19. Part 2: Mind Games

**CHAPTER NINETEEN  
****(Part Two)**

I was still lying flat on my back with a look of extreme shock in on my face. The girls kept hollering and shouting at me to get up, I knew I had to, but… what could I do? My life points were way low. I couldn't even try to attack the Toons, and any card I drew, or any strategy I'd try and come up with, Wilhelm would use his millennium eye to probe my mind and see everything and be well prepared to stop me.

Wilhelm continued to laugh at me and goad me into surrendering and giving up Sabrina forever. "Mykan, don't listen to him!" Sabrina hollered at me.

"Come on, you can do it!" shouted Clover.

"Stand up and show this mind-reading freak who's the real man." added Alex.

Suddenly, the words _mind-reading_ snapped my thoughts into motion. Wilhelm was using his millennium eye to read my mind to see what I was up to, just like how sometimes only when necessary did I use my own millennium necklace to look into the future and see what my opponents would play… but I couldn't do that no because he was blocking me out with his own magic.

"Of course…!" I said to myself as I finally realized that if he could use his item to block my manipulate mine, maybe I could a vice-versa on his. After all, he was able to block out my time readings, and cancel out my invisibility, but he wasn't able to block me out entirely.

I finally bolted upright onto my feet!

"He's up!" cried Sam.

"What?" snarled Wilhelm "Don't tell me after all that I've put you through you still intend to keep going."

I grinned wickedly. "That's not all I intend to do… I intend to win by beating you at your own game."

I held my cards bravely, and the duel continued.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 2400 VS Wilhelm: 8400_**

Wilhelm did admire my courage, but nonetheless "You should have just stayed down while you had the chance." he hissed at me. "So go ahead and make your move. I know you're planning to use Graceful Charity."

He was right. I played it, drew three cards, and then discarded two. Then I quickly activated a card from my hand before Wilhelm could read my mind "I play the **_SOUL EXCHANGE _**card!"

"Ah!" gasped Wilhelm. He didn't expect that since it was played so fast, and to his horror, I sacrificed my own Neo the Magic Swordsman along with his Millennium Shield, getting rid of it and the Ring of Magnetism all at once. "I now summon **_DARK MAGICIAN!"_**

**_(Atk: 2500)_**

Then I quickly played another spell card, **_CREATURE SWAP! _**"Creature Swap?!" shouted Wilhelm. "Yes…" I said "And being the creator of the card, you know that means that you and I must now select and give one monster to each other."

Wilhelm growled, but admitted to himself that I played that move flawlessly by getting rid of the Millennium Shield, now he was forced to part with one of his beloved Toon monsters in exchange for my Dark Magician. So he let me have his weaker Toon Mermaid. I didn't have to have Toon World on my side of the field to control it, and what was more, thanks to my now controlling a Toon monster, Wilhelm's other Toons weren't allowed to attack me directly anymore. He'd have to attack the mermaid.

"And finally, I use my trap card, **_(MAGICAL HATS.)"_** With that, the mermaid I stole disappeared under a hat and soon there four hats. "Now you're really in trouble, Wilhelm. Unless you can find which hat the mermaid is under, you won't be able to get to me so easily."

Wilhelm scowling face suddenly reverted back into that sneaky, sinister expression. "That's what you think." he said to me. "You honestly think that by stealing my beloved Toon from me and hiding her under a hat will keep you safe? You underestimate the power of my millennium eye."

The girls didn't like the sound of that. "So he can use his eye and find out which hat the mermaid is under?" asked Alex.

"I'm afraid so…" said Sabrina "Believe me, I've seen it done."

Clover felt like freaking out, just when things were starting to turn up well for me it allowed as if it were about to all come tumbling down again… but little did she or any of the others realize that I was about to pull off a little mind trick of my own. "I just hope this works." I thought quietly and my necklace began to glow softly.

For now it was Wilhelm's turn. He drew his card, and his Solemn Wishes, boosted his life points by another 500.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 2400 VS Wilhelm: 8900_**

"And now I'll reveal my hidden monster, **_MAGICIAN OF FAITH!"_**

**_(Atk: 300)_**

With her flipped up he took back his Pot of Greed spell and played it immediately, giving him two more cards and yet another 500 life points.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 2400 VS Wilhelm: 9400_**

Sam was outraged by how high his life points kept rising, but suddenly her head began to feel a little funny. "You okay, Sam?" asked Alex.

"I… don't know..." said Sam.

The king liked what one of his cards was. "Since you were kind enough to give me a monster, I'll put it to good use. I sacrifice Dark Magician and Magician of Faith, to bring out one of the most powerful Toons there is- **_BLUE-EYES TOON DRAGON!"_**

**_(Atk: 3000)_**

The new monster appeared, grinning and cackling cheekily, and flexed its cartoonish muscles. "Hey! That thing looks just like Mandy's Blue-Eyes White Dragon, only way freakier." said Clover

Of course it was just summoned, so it wasn't allowed to attack, but Wilhelm didn't mind that. "Now, Mykan… it's time for you to pay for stealing my Toon from me. It almost actually pains me to do this to my own monster, but it's worth it to take you down."

"Then what are you waiting for…?" I taunted. "Come on, pick a hat."

"With pleasure…" hissed Wilhelm "I pay 500 life points…"

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 2400 VS Wilhelm: 8900_**

"Now, Toon Summoned Skull, attack the hat on the far left!" His skull leapt over to my side of the field and did as it was told and shattered the hat with its power, while at the same time Sam continued to feel strange. "Looks like your little defense plan went up in flames!"

I snickered softly. "Really…? I wouldn't be so sure of that."

Wilhelm then gawked at my duel disk, and he was ever surprise. My score remained unaffected; the Toon Mermaid was still in play. "But… this can be right! I just read your mind. The Toon Mermaid had to be under that hat I just destroyed."

"Maybe you read the wrong mind, one that doesn't know where I've hidden the mermaid."

Everyone was confused by what just happened, but I did avoid damage, and Wilhelm couldn't attack anymore with The Dark Door still in play. So it was my turn. "I draw…" I said and held my card up. "Tell me… do you know what this card is?"

Wilhelm was starting to feel angry by my taunting. "I'll make you sorry you said that!" he growled "Let's see what you've got. You can't hide from me."

_"That's what you think."_ I thought quietly, and my necklace began to glow again, and at the same time, Clover began to feel strange. "Whoa… feeling majorly dizzy all of a sudden." she groaned.

Wilhelm's eye glowed brightly as he gazed, and gazed at my card, but he ultimately could see nothing. "What?! This is impossible! I can't tell what that card is you just drew!"

I chuckled "Sorry, but I don't think Clover what this card is I'm holding either. Reading her mind won't tell you anything."

The girls were even more confused than ever. "Somebody mind telling me what the heck is going on here?" asked Alex. Wilhelm especially wanted to know, and so I pulled down my kerchief again, and saw "The millennium necklace! So that's how you're doing it!"

I nodded "You should remember, Wilhelm, you're not the only one dueling with a millennium item in this match." and I proceeded to explain so everyone could understand.

Just as King Wilhelm could use his Millennium Eye to manipulate some of my powers, I figured I could do the same thing with the Millennium Necklace. I couldn't block out his mind-reading powers, so I did the next best thing and redirected his mind probing so he read one of the girls' minds instead of mine.

"Hey! I think I get it now." said Sam "Since we can't see your cards, or tell what move you're going to make, if he reads one of our minds, he won't be able to see it either."

I turned to her and nodded "That's right, Sam. I've turned his whole mind-reading game around." Then I turned back to face the king "Now each time you try to read my mind, I'll use the mind-shuffle!"

Wilhelm growled, and the girls felt all hope starting to build up again. Sabrina was most impressed too. Even when she owned the necklace, she never knew it has this sort of power.

_"I don't believe this!"_ Wilhelm growled in his thoughts _"No one has ever been able to stand up to me and my millennium eye like this before. There's something very unusual about you, Mykan."_

"Now that we're all settled, I'll place the card I drew facedown, and end my turn." I said "Go ahead and make you're move, unless you still want to try and read my mind."

Wilhelm shook his head and declined as he drew his next card. "You may have managed to foil my mind-reading powers, but it's only one thing you have to worry about, or have you forgotten who created this game. You still have no hope of beating me, and I'll find the Toon Mermaid soon enough, so rather than waste both our times, let's duel normally, shall we?"

"Very well then…" I agreed "We'll duel normally from here on out, but I have a sneaky suspicion that you've relied on the magic of you Millennium Eye for so long, your dueling skills have faded."

"Huh!" scoffed Wilhelm "We'll see. One we go, and since I drew a card, my life points go up, but I'll pay those points right back again. You're up Blue-Eyes Toon… attack the middle hat!"

His dragon nodded, and dashed over to attack the hat, blowing it to bits, but when the smoke had cleared nothing was there. "Argh…! I missed again!"

"What a shame. Another turn wasted." I mocked him. He growled, but placed one card facedown ending his turn.

I drew another card, and had Alex's mind blocking mine from being read, and how because the card I drew was just what I needed to set things right. "I'll place one card facedown and end my turn."

Wilhelm was actually starting to sweat, and it wasn't often that someone made him. He wasn't going to stand for me beating him. He drew his next card and his points went up.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 2400 VS Wilhelm: 9400_**

"Now Mykan, the time for me to finish you off is here and now." He said with an evil smirk. "There's another way for me to find my stolen monster, and that's with my trap card, **_COMPULSORY EVACUATION DEVICE_**."

It was yet another card neither of us had seen yet and knew nothing about, but Wilhelm demonstrated its power… to return one monster card on the field to its owner's hand. With that, the Toon Mermaid emerged from the Magical Hats, and left me, going back to her master's hand.

"Mykan!" cried Clover.

"Without a Toon monster he can't block against a direct attack!" added Alex.

Wilhelm laughed wickedly. "And I only gets worse from here, for now I'll summon my mermaid back to where she belongs, and to make things better, I'll use this **_DE-SPELL_** card and rid the field of your Dark Door!"

"Oh, no…!" I cried as my spell was shattered. Wilhelm snickered wickedly. "Too bad…! It looks like you came all this way just to lose to me again, and this time I'll make sure it's the last."

He paid 500 life points…

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 2400 VS Wilhelm: 8900_**

…and ordered his Blue Eyes Toon Dragon to strike me down. "Mykan…!" Sabrina cried.

"He can't lose!" added Sam.

"Attack… now!" shouted Wilhelm, and his dragon fired its attack straight for me. "Hold on!" I shouted "It seems you forgot about one of the cards I played- the **_MAGIC CYLINDER _**trap!"

"Ah!" gasped Wilhelm.

"It absorbs your toon monster's attack, and fires it straight back at your life points, and as I spoke those words, the dragon's blast did all that and struck Wilhelm hard and dealt him a full and well deserved 3000 points of damage.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 2400 VS Wilhelm: 5900_**

"Whoa! What a blast!" Alex cried.

The light had faded, and Wilhelm was outraged. "So you managed to slip past me again, I can still wipe you out with one another attack."

"You won't!" I snarled "Or have you forgotten about my second card…?" I grabbed it and held it into view "Does it look familiar to you?"

"It's Mystical Space Typhoon!"

"Correct!" I said "Now, I use the magic of this card and blast Toon World off the field, and when it goes your Toon monsters go with it!"

The Toon World book exploded, and all three of the Toon monsters roared and screeched as their bodies were engulfed by the flames right before Wilhelm's eyes. He screamed in shock and horror "No...! My toons! My beautiful, wonderful toons! You destroyed them!"

While he stood there shaking and whimpering in horror and shock, the girls leapt about and cheered for joy, and with nothing more for Wilhelm to do, he was forced to end his turn with his field completely open. I drew my next card "Excellent…! **_MONSTER REBORN_**- Revive the Dark Magician!"

**_(Atk: 2500)_**

Wilhelm shuddered nervously.

"And I'm not through yet, I'll also summon this from my hand, **_BEAVER WARRIOR!"_**

**_(Atk: 1200)_**

My two monsters stood side-by-side, and I ordered them both to attack, and Wilhelm took another 3700 points of damage and fell over, onto the ground

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 2400 VS Wilhelm: 2200_**

"I believe I've taken the lead now." I gloated. "I've thwarted your mind-reading and destroyed all your defenses. Your time is running out."

Suddenly, my necklace began to glow again, but I wasn't making it, and Wilhelm's millennium eye began to glow too. "Um… what's going on over there?" asked Alex.

That's when Wilhelm, ever so mysteriously, just tilted back up right onto his feet, and his voice now seemed deeper and more raspy than before. "This is not over yet, Mykan! It's only the beginning." He snickered.

**_To Be Continued…!_**


	20. Part 3: Truths and Hopes

**CHAPTER TWENTY  
****(Part Three)**

Wilhelm gazed at me sinisterly and continued to snicker, much to the girl's confusion. "What's happened to my father?" asked Sabrina.

"Do we look like we know?" said Clover.

I, on the other hand, had a good feeling my theory was proven correct. "You're not King Wilhelm at all, are you?"

Wilhelm, or rather the stranger snickered at me. "Very perceptive, and yet true. I am not your king Wilhelm; I am merely using his body as I have been all this time to accomplish my own goals."

The girls heard what he said and Sabrina felt like fainting. "He's not my father?"

"Finally… it's all starting to make some sense." said Sam.

I stepped forward "Tell me, who are you really?"

The stranger snickered again and introduced himself. "I am called _Aswad."_

"Aswad…" I said "The Egyptian name meaning, _Black!"_

Aswad nodded and stated it was a perfect name for him, for he was a thief and a stealer of souls whom since ancient times had done terrible things in his pursuit to collect the millennium items, for whoever possessed all seven items would be able to control powers unimaginable.

Five millennia ago, when the ancient items were created and their magic sealed within them by a brave pharaoh, Aswad sought to gather them all for himself to bring forth an era of never-ending chaos and darkness… for he and his people had always been poor, and starving and living in shadows of misery, and wound up having to steal for food and to provide for their starving families, while others, more fortunate than they were, always got to live in the comforts and luxuries Aswad and his people craved.

They were treated as trash by the others who lived in the comfort which began to ignite the flames of hatred, and thirst for revenge. Aswad wanted nothing more than to make all the others and the whole realize and suffer the same darkness he and his people suffered everyday… only worse!

Then one day, while he was out hunting for food, he came across some stranger clothed in dark armor who understood the pain Aswad felt and decided to grant him the ability to make his dreams of eternal darkness by giving him one of the seven items he had managed to confiscate, the millennium eye.

With his newly awakened powered, Aswad lead his people on a rampage across Egypt and playing a vital role in the newly erupted war of the shadow games. They summoned monsters and wreaked unspeakable havoc on the villages and good people in them, and anyone that dared to stand up to Aswad and the millennium eye, ended up with a one ticket to the Shadow Realm.

With each and every soul his banished into the shadows, his power increased, but he couldn't get enough and longed for more. So, he began an ultimate conquest to obtain all the millennium items and become an eternal ruler of the new world of chaos and destruction, and he decided why not launch and all-out attack on the pharaoh's palace. By overthrowing him would only make it that much easier for Aswad, and he wound up challenged by the very ruler himself.

Aswad fought his best, but ultimately underestimated the pharaoh's power and lost the duel, but before being sent to Shadow Realm, Aswad transferred a portion of his spirit within the millennium eye in hopes of one day being able to reawaken.

Five-thousand years later, Sabrina's father was invited on the archeological dig in Egypt, and they discovered an ancient crypt where Aswad had buried all his stolen treasures throughout his many raids in ancient times. Among them was the millennium eye.

Wilhelm and his men studied it carefully, but one night, while Wilhelm was alone, the eye began to resonate almost as if were trying to talk to him and tell him something. Then, without warning… it chose to imbed itself into Wilhelm. Aswad was choosing him to be his vessel, and with a newly acquired body, Aswad took over Wilhelm and trapped his mind in the Shadow Realm… where it had been ever since, wandering the emptiness like some lowly castaway.

Now Aswad was free to begin rebuilding and restarting what began way back then, and he wasn't willing to let anyone stand in his way. He would possess all the millennium items and drag the whole world as it stood into the shadows. He had not forgotten, and never would!

The spies felt sick to their stomachs, Sabrina felt another faint coming along, and I… I had almost forgotten how to blink my eyes. All this time, all the king's actions, all the grief and misery he brought, it was never really his doing. "You monster…!" I growled "All this because of your own selfish and wicked desires to even many who haven't done a thing to you."

Aswad laughed "I really see no difference. They are all alike the people who shunned mine, and live in comfort and luxury. I feel they deserve to be equally as treated, and so they shall be once I have obtained all the millennium items, which includes your necklace."

I gripped the necklace tightly. "So that's why you wanted to duel me. It was for my necklace all the time."

Aswad explained that while, in Wilhelm's body, he was away for some time, and hadn't realized that Sabrina had given me the millennium necklace he sought. Not even when we had dueled the first time as I wasn't wearing it then and had it stowed in my jacket pocket, and I didn't think much of it so he couldn't read my mind for it either.

He had already cast me out to sea on that raft, in attempt to make Sabrina's life miserable, when he realized I had it. So he laid out a plot, and blocked me form contacting Sabrina or ever returning to the island normally. He knew that someday I would gather my resources and return myself, and the gatekeepers were merely a test to see how well I had come in dueling and how powerful the necklace had become, feeling it would be that much easier to defeat me in a duel and then be able to properly take it.

For, as ancient studies showed, only defeating the holder of a millennium item in a duel would entitle you to take their item.

"You'll never get your hands on my millennium necklace!" I growled "I treasure this item with my life like I treasure Sabrina who gave it to me as symbol of her love."

"Oh, how sweet… and very ineffectual…" hissed Aswad "…but my conquest for world dominance will not cease for any form of such triviality."

His millennium eye began to glow brightly. "It is time that you and I finished what we started!" and as he spoke, dark and eerie clouds magically began to surround us. "What's going on? What are you doing?" I demanded to know. Aswad laughed and said to me "I am taking this duel to the next level. You and I are going to finish this little game in the Shadow Realm!"

The girls didn't like the looks of this and dashed over to try and help, but as they got nearer, both Aswad and I had completely vanished inside a large dome seemingly comprised out of dark energy. "Mykan…!" Sabrina shouted, but it was obvious I couldn't hear her.

"What is this thing?" asked Clover.

Alex shivered "Whatever it is, it's giving me the creeps."

Sam thought it was both incredible, and yet spooky at the same time. Never before in her spy career had she seen anything like this. "I just hope Mykan's okay in there."

…

I opened my eyes and everything around me was almost indescribable. All ways there was dark fog and eerie, shadowy colors… The Shadow Realm, the dreaded realm of eternal emptiness where nightmare never ceased, and the darkness always ruled. I had studied about it so, but never in a million years dreamt would I ever actually see it!

This duel was now a Shadow Game, just like in ancient times, whoever would lose this duel would be banished to the Shadow Realm forever! Aswad laughed wickedly "Take a good look around you, Mykan. This is where you shall stay and spend all eternity wandering in the emptiness!"

"That is not going to happen!" I said fiercely.

"We shall see won't we, but perhaps I should point out that you and I are the only ones here, and you are completely cut off from your friends, and therefore you no longer have the power to maintain your mind shuffle."

I gasped when I realized he was right, and sure enough, he used his millennium eye again and could see the two cards I was holding, and it was his turn.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 2400 VS Aswad: 2200_**

He drew his card, "You remember my Solemn Wishes. It grants me 500 life points for every card I draw."

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 2400 VS Aswad: 2700_**

"And now I summon a new creature of yet another sort you haven't seen yet, it requires I activate this spell card, the **_BLACK ILLUSION RITUAL! _**By offer a monster with only one star in its level, I am permitted to summon forth a creature of devastating powers- **_RELINQUISHED!"_**

**_(Atk/Def: 0)_**

I gazed at this new creature with a mysterious awe, but it had no attack or defense points at all, which could only mean it had a nasty hidden power, and Aswad was ready to show it to me. "Now, witness his amazing power!" as he shouted, the monster's evil eye began to glow brightly, so brightly I shielded my eyes, and when all was clear again, my Beaver Warrior had gone missing. "What have you done?!" I shouted.

Aswad snickered and explained that Relinquished had the power to steal any of my monsters and equip it like a spell card, which granted Relinquished all its attack and defense powers.

**_(Atk: 1200)_**

"If that's your monster's only ability, you wasted a good move. It's still far too weak to survive." I said as I drew my card, which he could already see was my Card Destruction spell card. "Face it, you fool… you are no match for me, not in this nor any other realm there is."

My insides were boiling with rage. I wasn't about to let him get away with all he had done! "Aswad, prepare to answer for all your crimes! Dark Magician, attack and destroy Relinquished!"

My Dark Magician blasted the evil creature…

**_(Atk: 2500) VS (Atk: 1200)_**

However, to my surprise, Relinquished remained standing, but my Beaver Warrior was destroyed. Before I could say anything, Aswad laughed at me, and explained that when his monster was attacked in battle while equipped with captured monster, that monster was destroyed instead of Relinquished. "True, I lose life points, but as a cherry on top… SO DO YOU!"

"Ah!" I gasped as we both were blasted and took 1300 points of damage.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 1100 VS Aswad: 1400_**

The worst part of it was, to me that blast felt so real, which Aswad laughed at. "Have you forgotten? We are dueling in the Shadow Realm where everything here is not the same as the world you know. As your life points lower, you'll feel as if every ounce of energy is ripped form your beating heart leaving you weaker than before."

I struggled to stand up right, but I had to end my turn. "Very well then…" said Aswad as he drew his next card and collected more points.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 1100 VS Aswad: 1900_**

"Now, just as you witness before, I'll use Relinquished's power again!" and with his command, my Dark Magician was captured, and his power now belonged to Aswad. "This can't be happening!" I cried.

"Oh, but it is…" laughed Aswad "…and you have no monsters to protect yourself anymore. One attack from your very own monster and you'll be banished to the Shadow Realm. Your millennium necklace will be mine, and nothing will stop me then. The whole world will cower in fear under eternal darkness forever!"

…

Outside of the dome, the girls each felt a sickly feeling chill down their spines. "Did anyone else feel that?" asked Alex.

The others nodded. "Mykan's in trouble. I just know it!" cried Sabrina and she ran towards the dome. "Princess…!" shouted Sam but Sabrina had already jumped straight into the dome and… popped right back out again. "What…?"

The girls were very surprised. "Um… what just happened?" asked Clover.

Sam stepped up to the dome and put her hand through it, and magically and mysteriously, her hand popped back out through the darkness waving at her. She stepped back quickly. "Let me see this." said Alex as she stuck her head through only to find herself peeking back out through the dome and gazing at her own backside. "Whoa!" she quickly got out.

It now became obvious that Aswad had cursed this magic shadows to keep me trapped inside and the girls outside. "So there's nothing we can do at all? Nothing?!" cried Clover.

The girls had never felt so stressed out in their lives. Sabrina fell to her knees feeling all hope rapidity fading from her heart and spirit… when suddenly she could hear a faint a familiar voice calling out to her. _"Sabrina…!"_

"That… that voice…" she peeped. The spies heard it too, but who was it?

_"Sabrina…!" _the voice was louder and clearer now, and there, within the darkness of the dome was a faded spiritual image of King Wilhelm, the real one. "Daddy…? Is it really you?" tears were coming to her eyes.

Her father's spirit was able to reach out beyond the shadows and talk to the girls, but only for a very short while. He had come to deliver a vital message to them. _"Listen to me carefully. I've been trapped in the Shadow Realm for nearly two whole years, and in all that time I've managed to learn a few tricks about it…"_

He explained…

Ever since Aswad's wicked spirit took over his body, he spent all his time desperately trying to find ways to get his body back and only just now was his theory about Aswad correct. _"If Mykan is able to successfully defeat Aswad in the shadow game they now face, the remainder of his spirit will fade into the darkness, and I'll be able to cease control of my body again."_

That was wonderful for the girls to hear, but alas, their doubts still remained for they knew that by now I was in big trouble facing Aswad alone, and they felt there was nothing they could do to reach out and help me. _"No…! There is a way that can be possible." _said Wilhelm.

"Well, hurry up and tell us!" Clover growled impatiently.

_"As Aswad duels and constantly uses the millennium eye, he grows weaker. I may have discovered a way that should, in theory, turn this to our advantage, but in order to do so I must have the aid of your believing and your faith in all the we are about to accomplish. For only with positive, pure feelings can the power pierce the darkness and hold it at bay."_

The spies were confused, and not quite sure about it, but Sabrina bolted up onto her feet and demanded they go through it. "I'd do anything for my father and for Mykan, just as they did the same things for Me." she said, and this made the girls realize they did owe me a lot, for all that I had taught them back at Mali-U, and they did promise to help me all the way.

"Let's do this!" said Clover.

"We'll send that evil creep back to the shadows he crawled out of." added Alex.

Sam nodded in agreement "…For Mykan!"

The girls, under Wilhelm's command all stood in a circle holding hands, and concentrated hard to believe in me, and in their victory. They just hoped it would work!

…

While inside, Aswad was preparing for attack. "Prepare yourself, Mykan! This is the end for you! Relinquished, I command you… use the Dark Magician… attack Mykan's life points and send him to the shadows…" and the magician fired at me.

I couldn't let it end this way…!

**_To Be Continued…!_**


	21. Final Part: Many happy endings

**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE  
****(Final Part)**

Aswad's attack soared right for me. "It's over for you, Mykan! Victory is mine!" he shouted at me.

"Not quite!" I shouted back and quickly discarded one card from my hand right as the attack struck me. When all was quiet, I got back up onto my feet, and my score remained untouched thanks to the **_KURIBOH_** I discarded, and by doing so, my life points were spared from harm. Aswad laughed at me. "I knew had that puny little fuzz-ball in your hand from reading your mind. You are indeed fortunate."

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 1100 VS Aswad: 1900_**

I sighed in heavy relief considering I had nearly lost everything, but I didn't know how much more I could take. I had no monsters to shield me, and even if I drew a new card, Aswad would use his millennium eye to probe my mind! "I can't let him win! I just can't!" I said to myself.

"Oh, but you will, and there is nothing you can do that can stop me!" hissed Aswad. Still, even after all I had been through, no matter how bad things were, I just couldn't give in. "There must be a way somehow." I said.

I reached or my deck and drew my next card on my turn. Aswad grinned at me "So, you still insist on making a fool of yourself? Very well, let's see what you've just drawn." His millennium eye glowed as he began to probe my mind, when suddenly it went out. "What's this?! Something's blocking my millennium eye!" he growled in sudden shock. I looked up and could hardly believe what I was seeing…!

Clover, Sam, Alex, and Sabrina were somehow standing between me and Aswad, preventing him from reading my mind anymore, and then I could see why...! Just above them, I could see the spirit of Sabrina's father, the real King Wilhelm. "Is it… is it really you?"

He gazed down at me and smiled, and then turned to glare angrily at Aswad.

"You!" growled Aswad "How dare you! I thought I had banished you forever!"

"You thought wrong." snarled Wilhelm "I've my brain to good use during my time here, and I know all your weaknesses."

Aswad growled, and one by one, the girls voiced how they were going to stand up to him, and help me take him down once and for all, because they believed in me. The girls gazed at me, and I gazed back at them. "Thank you… everyone." I said feeling very moved for the first time in a long time. "We've thwarted your mind reading powers for good, Aswad, and now that you can't see my cards, I'm free to play this, **_(MONSTER RECOVERY!)"_**

_"Monster Recovery…?"_ Aswad thundered in his thoughts _"I could have stopped that if I had seen it coming."_

Thanks to my new card, I was able to put all the cards in my hand back into my deck, reshuffle, and draw five new cards. Now my hand was replenished, and thanks to my friends, Aswad couldn't see what I was up to, except for one problem, not a single one of the cards I had drawn was powerful enough to take on Relinquished and my Dark Magician, and even if I could, I would damage as well.

"I assume by your concerned expression, your little move is not a good one." Aswad taunted. "It would seem I don't need my mind probing to see that your defeat is still imminent, now card you have can help you now."

**_"SWORDS OF REVEALING LIGHT…!" _**I suddenly shouted, and Aswad gasped when he saw the swords materialize around his side of the field. "Oh, no!" he groaned.

"Oh, yes…" I said "Now you'll have to wait three turns before you can even try to attack me."

Aswad felt I was more desperate than ever. "What possible good can a three-turn delay do you?" That's what he felt, but actually there was still one hope for me to win the duel for good and nothing he could do would counter it. There was one special creature I kept in my deck for just such emergencies… _Exodia, the Forbidden One; _a monster broken into five separate cards, and if anyone could successfully draw all five cards into their hand they would summon the great beast and automatically win the duel no matter what was happening.

So far I had only three pieces in my hand, the two legs, and the left arm. That wasn't enough, and I had my doubts about three turns being enough to help me get the last two pieces. In the meantime I decided to create a defense if my move failed. "I'll set one monster in defense mode, and end my turn."

"How pitiful…" mocked Aswad "All that gloating about defeating me and yet you're stumbling around like a blinded fiend."

He drew his card and collected his life points…

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 1100 VS Aswad: 2400_**

…but since there was nothing he could really do, he passed his turn which left two turns to go before the swords went out. I drew my next card, and it still wasn't what I needed to help me get all the pieces. So I placed it in defense mode and ended my turn.

"If you insist…" hissed Aswad as he drew his card and got more life points.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 1100 VS Aswad: 2900_**

And he really liked what he drew. "Prepare yourself Mykan, to meet the most sinister creature I can produce with this deck."

"Show me!" I demanded.

"Very well… I'll activate Polymerization, and fuse my **_THOUSAND-EYES IDOL_** with my Relinquished to create a monster whose powers are virtually unstoppable!"

The monsters merged together, and Relinquished seemed to change color, and sprouted gross eyeballs all over its body. Aswad laughed wickedly "Behold, my most devastating creature… **_THOUSAND-EYES RESTRICT!"_**

**_(Atk: 0)_**

"And if you believe he is frightening now, I shall activate his power to show you." as he finished speaking, his monster opened all its horrid eyes and just like before, one my two monster was taken, and it happened to be a **_FEARL IMP_**, and his monster absorbed it's attack strength of 1300, but in addition, all other monsters on the field were totally paralyzed. They could not attack, nor switch their battle positions.

Just when I thought his previous monster was bad enough, now he created a whole new one. "Feel fortunate that your swords are still shielding you, but after my next turn they will vanish, and when they do… you will meet your end, Mykan!"

"We shall see!" I sneered as I drew my next card, it was another piece of Exodia I needed giving me four, but I still needed just one more. I was forced to pass my turn. Aswad drew his card and gained more points.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 1100 VS Aswad: 3400_**

"Since there isn't much I can or should do, I'll just end my turn, and thus goes the effects of your Sword of Revealing Light. Can you feel it, Mykan? The darkness is calling for you, in hungers on your fear and your worries, all ready to place you into a nightmare of never ending misery."

My hand quivered as I drew my next card. Still, it was not what I needed, just a useless spell card that couldn't help me. "There's nothing I can do this turn." I said sounding low.

"How sad…" hissed Aswad as he drew his card and got his points…

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 1100 VS Aswad: 3900_**

"These two cards shall do wonderfully for me, and the first is the equip-spell **_UNITED WE STAND!_** My Thousand-Eyes Restrict shall now gain 800 attack points for each monster that I control, and when I say every monster, that also includes those I have captured."

**_(Atk: 1300) Becomes (Atk: 2900)_**

I gazed in horrors at how strong his monster had become, but the worst was yet to happen.

"And now, my final card shall be the **_FARIY METEOR CRUSH!"_**

"What? Oh, no…!" I cried "That means you can inflict piercing damage to my life points even if my monster is in defense-mode!"

Aswad snickered and ordered his Restrict to attack my monster. It was my Mystical Elf, and with a defense of 2000, I lost 900 life points.

**_SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 200 VS Aswad: 3400_**

"No!" I shouted.

Aswad snickered and laughed louder and more wickedly than ever. "So goes to show, that living for light and love never truly triumphs."

I was really shuddered with many fearful and stressful emotions I hadn't felt since… ever! Never before had the thought of losing a duel and the consequences riding on it meant this much to me.

All I had in my hand were my five cards. One was a useless spell-card, and the rest were four of the five Exodia cards I needed. Not one of them was strong enough to take on his Thousand-Eyes Restrict, and even if they were summoned I wouldn't be able to attack thanks to the monster's effect, and there was no way I could defend with them, with such low defense points, and a high powered piercing monster, I'd be wiped out… and yet, there was still one teensy chance left.

I gazed at my deck with my thoughts quivering. _"One card… one draw… one chance…!"_ I reached up to the deck, but right before my eyes it looked as if my deck were trying to pull away from me, sensing my doubt. "I don't… think I… can do it!"

…

The girls, still standing in their circle, sense some majorly bad feelings coming from my spirit. "Did any of you feel that?" asked Alex. She didn't bother to even open her eyes or break the circle. "Yeah, I did, and it doesn't feel good." said Sam.

Clover felt shivers run through her stomach. "Seriously, I have never felt anything so incredibly down-low in my life."

"We've got to believe harder!" said Sabrina "We need to let Mykan know we believe in him. It may give him strength."

The girls all agreed and concentrated with ever last ounce of believing they could summon from within.

…

I just stood where I was with my fingers trembling, and not even blinking my eyes. I tried and I tried but I just couldn't seem to draw my card. Suddenly, a ray of light shone in my mind rather than all around me. "What's happening?" I asked.

That's when I could hear the girls and their thoughts coming from the spirits that stood before me an Aswad.

"Mykan… don't give up." said Clover "You can totally take this guy on, just like you could take on a big teaching job at Mali-U."

"You taught us so much, Mykan." said Sam "It's not over until the last card has been played. So listen to your own teachings."

"We're all backing you up." said Alex "Just get in there, and kick that evil creep's butt!"

"Mykan…" Sabrina said to me "I believe in you, and you know I believe in you. Don't you believe in yourself?"

Hearing her voice especially perked me right back up again. "They're right. While the duel is still on, I can still try. I do believe in myself, and I believe in all of them too." With that, I managed to reach my deck.

"Draw your card, Mykan. The Shadow Realm is waiting for you." Aswad heckled "… of course it really matter not how many pathetic cards you have. This duel is over!"

I snickered softly, much to his confusion. "Huh? What's so funny?" asked Aswad.

"I have no pathetic cards." I said deeply and cheekily "But there is thing I do have…" and I revealed to him the card I drew and all that was in my hand. "…and that's the unstoppable Exodia!"

"Ah! Impossible!" shouted Aswad, all his pride and loudmouth attitude was now replaced with extreme fear covering up the now hopelessness there was for him as I placed all five cards onto my disk at once, and the field began to rumble as dark light began to shine forming the magic portal. "Thanks to the believing I share with my friends, we've overcome your darkness, and thwarted all your evil plans."

That's when my monster began to materialize. First its two arms stuck out through the portal, followed by the legs, and then the head, and there he stood. The alleged unstoppable, **_EXODIA, THE FORBIDDEN ONE!_**

"No!" cried Aswad "This cannot be! I had this duel won!"

"Evil never wins." I said "And now… in the name of all the people you've hurt, and all the lives you've ruined. You shall suffer the consequences!"

My giant monster began to power up for the final blow. "Exodia… OBLITERATE!"

POW! Exodia fired his incredible force and blowing up Aswad's entire side of the field in such a powerful explosion.

**_FINAL SCORE:_**

**_Mykan: 200 VS Aswad: "0000"_**

Aswad shouted and yowled he began to fade away into the darkness around him, and the shadows began to fade into bright lights.

…

The girls awoke and from their concentration in gasps. "Whoa! What was that?" cried Clover.

"You felt it too?" asked Alex.

"It feels like…Mykan." said Sam.

Suddenly, the dark dome began to fade away. "Look…!" cried Sabrina. As the darkness vanished completely, they could see me standing straight and tall. The girls smiles widened and they all dashed towards me. I saw them, and waved at them.

"Mykan!" cried Sabrina as she collided into me and I twirled her around. Alex approached us. "Mykan, you did it! You really did it! You really, finally did it!"

Sam stepped "Um… what Alex means is we're glad you won."

"Yeah but…"

Then Clover stepped up "And we couldn't be more proud of you than ever."

"But I…"

Then Sabrina stepped up. "Mykan, I can't thank you enough for everything you've done."

Alex ruffled her hair in frustration "You guys are stealing everything I wanted to say!"

"So, then talk already." I teased.

"Nah… forget it. It's not important, you won! …MYKAN WON!" We all leapt for joy! "But I couldn't have done it without all of you helping me." I said. The girls all smiled at me, and suddenly we heard the sound of a man groaning. We all looked behind us and could see King Wilhelm lying flat on the ground. "Daddy!" cried Sabrina. We all ran towards him, and found it was the real King. The evil spirit of Aswad had been vanquished forever, and he regained control of his body after all this time. "Daddy!" cried Sabrina as she helped him up and he hugged her warmly. "Sabrina… oh, honey! Oh…! I thought I'd never see you again."

Sabrina almost felt like bursting into tears of happiness, but her father felt very ashamed, and he tried to apologize to us, but we wouldn't accept it. "You're apologizing for something that isn't your fault." I told him.

The spies nodded and explained that everything that happened was Aswad's doing, not his. "No matter how evil Aswad was, he couldn't really destroy the pureness of your heart." said Sam.

"You own the millennium eye now, and its powers are yours to control." added Alex.

"You can totally make things better for everyone now, right?" asked Clover, but poor Wilhelm didn't answer and he wanted some time to think about it alone.

…

For a whole hour, we all just sat near the edge overlooking the sea, and taking a much needed breather from all we had been through. The spies figured with their mission objective complete, they would soon head home to Beverly Hills, without me since it was clear I would be staying on the island.

"So, what's up with you two?" asked Alex.

"Yeah, aren't you going to pick up where you left of and get hitched?" asked Clover.

Sabrina and I wanted to, but we weren't sure when. "My dad's really shaken up." Sabrina said "I really want him to get better. I just couldn't bear to get married without him there."

Suddenly, Sam pointed out that since my powers weren't being blocked out that I could use the millennium necklace to look into the imminent future. "Yeah…! Of course…!" I said, and concentrated hard. "Wait… I see something."

The girls all gazed at me eagerly waiting to hear what I was seeing. I saw Sabrina and I were at our wedding getting married. "…Tonight?"

"Tonight?" said Sabrina.

The spies were confused to, and then, Wilhelm stepped forth dressed in his best attire "That's right." he chuckled, and there, right behind him, the entire meadow was decked and set up as an entire wedding ball and celebration, with many of the school and palace staff invited as guests, and a large banquet and cake. A long red carpet stretched across to a wooden arch decorated in flowers and paper doves.

The rest of us were utterly surprised and speechless by how he was able to put all this together so quickly. Wilhelm chuckled and said that ever since the day Sabrina and I became engaged he had spent a good long while getting everything together in secret, like a last minute emergency wedding plan. "I think you two have been deprived of each other long enough. So, why not go for it now?"

He clapped his hands, and Sabrina and I were suddenly surrounded by two groups of five people that began to work swiftly on us, and when they were through in mere second, Sabrina was dressed in a beautiful wedding gown, and veil, and I was wearing a white suit with golden doublets and a blue sash. I practically looked like a prince.

The spies were surrounded too and they were suddenly wearing bridesmaids' attire. "But, your highness…" I said

"Ah… that's _Dad_ to you now, son." Wilhelm said smiling "It's just my way of saying… let's all started over and put all the bad times to rest."

Sabrina jumped into her father's arms hugging warmly. "Oh, Daddy, thank you!"

The king held his daughter warmly. "Anything for you honey. I love you."

"I love you, Daddy!"

I joined in the group hug, and Wilhelm hugged me too. The spies all hugged each other crying at the beautiful scene and before long, fireworks lit the skies, champagne bottles were burst open as flower petals blew through the air as I twirled Sabrina, who jumped into my arms, around and around as we chuckled so happily, married at last!

…

A week later, the girls had ever since that night returned to Mali-U, and were at their penthouse talking to Jerry over the monitor and sharing the stories of their adventure with me.

_"Oh, my…! I must say, super spies, I am truly impressed. Not only did you help someone in need, you helped to thwart and evil plot without the use of any WOOHP gadget or system on your side."_

The girls were glad everything worked out the way they had. "Still…" said Sam "It was hard for us to say goodbye to Mykan."

Clover nodded. "I know I keep saying this, but he really was an awesome guy, even if he started out as our strict teacher."

_"I'm glad to hear that." _I said, suddenly appearing on the monitor in Jerry's office. The girl's eyes widened with joy. "Mykan!" cried Alex "But what are you doing there…?"

Jerry explained that he and King Wilhelm had formed a new alliance in businesses. This way, Sabrina, the King, and I were all dubbed as honorary WOOHP agents. We weren't allowed to attend missions, but just the same, it meant the girls and I could see each other more often.

_"And it's just as well too; I have a special present for you three."_ I said, and Jerry pressed a button on his desk, and a small package appeared on the coffee table by the girls. They hastily opened it, and inside were new duel monsters cards I had just recently designed, the only ones of their kinds, as a thank you gift for all the girls had done for me.

Three monster cars that heavily resembled them in their spy uniforms, all three were level seven monsters. Atk: 2300 and Def: 2000. Light attributed, and warrior type, and each with their own unique effect.

Clover's was **_RED SPY GIRL. _**_Effect: During your Main Phase 1, you can pay one half of your life points to destroy all your opponents' monsters. This card cannot attack on the same turn this effect is applied._

Sam's was **_GREEN SPY GIRL. _**_Effect: During your Main Phase 1, you can pay one half of your life points to destroy all your opponents' spells and trap cards. This card cannot attack on the same turn this effect is applied._

Alex's was **_YELLOW SPY GIRL. _**_Effect: During your Main Phase 1, you can pay one half of your life points then inflict damage opponent's life points x 500 for every card they have in play and in their hand. This card cannot attack on the same turn this effect is applied._

Then there was a fusion monster called **_SPY WOMAN, _**level twelve, and 4000 attack and defense points. **_. _**_Effect: Must be Fusion Summoned and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. When this card is Fusion Summoned, you can reduce your life points by half to destroy all cards your opponent controls and reduce their life points by half. Card Effects cannot be activated in response to this effect's activation. This effect may only be used once. After activation, your turn ends immediately. _

"Oh, my gosh. No one's ever made me into a card before!" cried Clover as she smothered her new card "Even though I look kind of weird."

"This is so awesome!" said Alex.

_"And one more thing, girls…"_ I said _"Feel free to say no to this if you want, but… I'd like to take you on as my personal protégés."_

The girls were speechless, and I explained to them how their dueling skills were the best I had ever seen out of many of the students I ever had, and I had seen and taught a lot of people, and dueled against many who I hadn't taught, and after their performances on the island and helping me, I wanted to help them take their skills up higher. _"What do you say girls?"_ I asked _"Again… you don't have to if you don't want to."_

All the girls did was smile at me, and gladly accepted. After the adventure, they felt they could grow much attached to the game, and they wanted me to consider them my new BBF's, not just as students. Not to mention there was still so much they wanted to know about the game and explore its origin, and who knew? If they stuck with me, or rather I stuck with them; it was just possible I would be able to find answers to where I came from, and how I got where I was.

Jerry was very pleased to see all this, and promised to talk to the girls soon, and he and I logged off.

The girls left their penthouse and headed for the college grounds, eager to try their new cards out, and while they were deciding which ones to duel first. "Hey, losers!" snarled the familiar and pestering voice. "You think you're going to be the number one duelists on campus that title belongs to me and me only!"

The girls could sense she was looking for trouble. "So, Mandy, does this mean you want to duel?" Clover asked slyly. "Fine, get your game on."

Alex and Sam let her borrow the other cards they had to see them in action. At the start of the game, Mandy was all cocky and confident. "I am so going to blats you to the next century of loserville." she gloated, but in a very short while…

All was quiet… when suddenly… KAPOW! A giant holographic explosion startled many of the people on the grounds.

Poor Mandy got wiped out so badly and quickly, she could hardly believe it "What… just happened?" she groaned before collapsing. Clover had won so easily, she and the girls were impressed, and they couldn't wait for their next duels.


End file.
